In my Arms, In my Heart
by Turbanator
Summary: The sequel to "Out of Sight, Out of Mind". What trials await the middle Tendo daughter and the former heir of Anything Goes? Watch closely as their new life begins, together... Now rated M due to adult scenes in Chapter 6.
1. Starting Out

**Author's Note: **Please note that this is a sequel to **"Out of Sight, Out of Mind"**

**Read that story first before continuing!**

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**In my Arms, In my Heart**

**Chapter 1**

**Starting Out**

**One week later  
Lake Ogawara**

Two people were staring at the tall metal cylinder outside the small wooden home, both with different expressions.

"So, you're telling me this is how we're going to take baths? Outside, in full view of the lake?"

"Well, it's that, or actually using the lake, and the water in here is at least hot."

Nabiki, her arms folded, looked miffed at Ranma, not appreciating the idea of exposing herself to nature despite no one else being around.

"Come on Nabiki, you have to give in you know..." Ranma winked at her, "Besides, it's been a week, and you are becoming a bit, well, peaky..."

"Excuse me?" Her eyebrow arched high, "I'm sorry that I'm not like Mr Indecent Exposure in front of me."

Ranma did blush and look away, "It's not like I had much choice in the matter, the house is really old and there's no bath indoors. The Kinjakan is the best for heating the water up outside anyway."

Nabiki rolled her eyes, "Look, Ranma, it's not the whole idea of bathing outdoors that offends me. I'll bet it'll be be lovely surrounded by trees and whatnot. It's more the fact of undressing out here and getting in, or if I undress in the house, I have to run out and jump straight into the bath stark naked."

"Ah..." Ranma cocked his head to one side, "Yeah, I never thought about that..." He looked back at the house and thought to himself, "Tell you what, give me two minutes..."

Running inside, he pulled out some metal poles he found a while ago, and bent them into shape, sticking them into the ground near the bath. Going in again to get some old carpet, he draped it over the poles to create a makeshift changing cubicle.

"Well, it's nothing special, but it'll have to do for now." Nabiki smiled at his resourcefulness, "Thanks Ranma, every little helps."

"No problem..." He threw her a towel and began to go back inside, "I'll grab a chair for you to sit on inside the changing room, if you need anything just shout, I promise I won't peek."

"Okay then..." Nabiki went inside the small room, the carpets surprisingly keeping the wind out, and undressed, folding her clothes onto the chair.

Leaving the small room, wearing her towel, she gently lowered herself in to the bath and sighed.

"Well, I suppose it is a start after all."

Leaning back, Nabiki closed eyes, savouring the tingly heat.

**Three days earlier**

A young woman walked up the path, curious at the location, and held a map showing her where to go. Confused at the directions, and that the taxi couldn't just take her in front of the door, she just accepted it and went her own way.

Eventually, she reached the house and knocked on the door, seeing that there was no doorbell to be seen.

"Ah, Kasumi..."

"Sorry, do I know you?" The eldest Tendo daughter was puzzled.

"Sorry..." Ranma moved away from the door, "Nabiki's inside, she's just making lunch."

"Thank you..."

Kasumi looked about the house and saw how dilapidated it was. She didn't take her shoes off since the twosome inside wore either slippers or shoes, due to the old floorboards.

"Hi sis..." Nabiki called from the old style cooker, "Just give me a second."

Returning in a minute with a pot of warm tea, she offered some to Kasumi, who accepted it. She also passed a portion of food to her.

"Your face!" The eldest Tendo girl stood up in shock and felt Nabiki's forehead, "It's healed! I can't even see the scar any more."

"Yep, all thanks to a little magic." Nabiki winked back, glad to have her looks back to the way it was before, "But that wasn't what I wanted to show you." Kasumi had a look of puzzlement about her, "Now, you're probably wondering why I called you here." Nabiki was casually eating her rice and toppings.

"I did, but I assumed it was because you found this person..." Kasumi indicated Ranma.

"That's true, but it's not just that..." Nabiki looked to him, "Ranma, show her."

Nodding quietly, he picked up the glass of water and emptied it over his head, activating the transformation.

Kasumi lowered her tea and was still for a second or two, "Oh my... A Jusenkyo curse too?"

"I know it's hard to believe, but Ranma here has been living with us for a long time, but because of many things, he left Nerima. Due to a miscalculation on his part, I wasn't affected when he removed your memories."

Nabiki paused to let Kasumi take this in.

"So, you mean to say that I knew him too? Were we friends?" She asked Ranma directly.

"Uh, yeah, I guess so..." He scratched his head, "You did help me out now and then."

"There must have been a good reason for leaving. I can't imagine you would leave if you thought you couldn't stay in Nerima." Kasumi's face was sympathetic, "It can't have been easy for you, Ranma."

The redhead shuffled her feet, "No, it wasn't, at all... But you somehow knew about it before I did it..."

"Really?" Kasumi put a finger to her chin, "Well, I must have been worried about you then."

Nabiki nodded in agreement, "I thought as much..." She gave a pointed look at Ranma, "But he's avoiding the point, so I'll say it for him." Nabiki moved closer to Kasumi, who didn't move at all, "You can get your memories back, all of them related to Ranma. How things were back then, with the fiancée fights, martial arts challenges and the other crazy times when everything went pear-shaped."

"Was it that bad?" Kasumi seemed surprised, "But, how can I get those memories back??"

"I have an antidote." Ranma stated simply, "Back when I had Cologne make the incense to forget me, I also got her to make enough for two people to remember everything from back then." She looked down at the table, "I didn't think I would ever get to use them on anyone though..."

"So, did you use it on Nabiki then?" She asked.

"Yes, though it was for different reasons," She sulked at Ranma with mock sadness, making her giggle in amusement, "Because his best laid plans went wrong with me, I wanted to remember him, and broke through the spell. But there was one time I forgot, the time when I told Ranma how to go about the plan."

"So, I'm the only other person you want to remember you?"

Kasumi's emotional voice struck Ranma, and she looked away, "Well, that's if you want to. I don't want to force you or anything..."

"Of course I want to know you, Ranma..." Kasumi's smile melted his heart, "I mean I don't know what I've missed from my life without having you around, but I can imagine it must have been interesting." She paused for a second, her hands clasped together, "I only want to know why you chose me, out of everyone you knew..."

Ranma mumbled something, her red face making Nabiki smile knowledgeably.

"What was that, Ranma?" Kasumi leaned in closer, and he swore he could still smell the meal she cooked earlier that day.

"Because..." Ranma managed to raise her voice slightly, "Because, you were kind to me..."

Kasumi nodded and sat back into her chair, "I hope I was..." She pulled the shorter girl's hand towards her, "Please use the antidote on me now."

Nabiki gazed at Ranma and did a slow nod, showing that Kasumi was ready and accepted it.

Standing up and going to the sink, Ranma pulled out the shampoo bottle and comb, walking back to Kasumi.

"Do I just sit here then?" She inquired.

"Yeah, just relax, it'll be done in a minute."

Waiting for her shoulders to lower from reduced tension, Ranma passed the comb and shampoo into her hair pressing the necessary points. Like the time with Nabiki, it took a full minute of re-energising the right locations at the right time stir up the locked away thoughts.

Once it was done, Kasumi experienced the same convulsions, though Ranma and Nabiki were there to gently hold her to stop her from falling or hurting herself.

Afterwards, Kasumi looked up, her glazed eyes now alert and she looked at Nabiki first, then at Ranma.

"Oh my..." Her tone was that of interest, "I thought I would never see you again, Ranma."

Standing up, she moved over to the redhead, and pulled her into a loving hug, "Thank you for making me remember. I never regretted knowing you, and I feel blessed to have those fun times back again with me."

Ranma said nothing, except to allow herself to be dragged in deeper and shook against Kasumi's top, letting out some quiet tears.

**Later that day**

"Ranma..." Kasumi was saddened at the story he told, "How could you go through with it all?"

The now male Ranma sighed, "I couldn't figure out a way any more... There were too many problems and unfinished business with everyone around us..."

"But..." Her face had fallen, "Alone?"

Nabiki held Ranma's hand, "Yes, he had to... How could he escape all that without going it alone?"

Kasumi traced the hand-to-hand contact and stared at Nabiki, "And, is he going to be alone for much longer?"

A smirk stretched across Nabiki's face, and Ranma glanced at her, as if unsure of her answer, "Yep, I'll be staying here, Kasumi. Daddy should know that I can't stay at home forever."

"I'll try to make it a bit better around here," He remembered how the Kasumi, who was a stranger to Ranma, viewed the place as a little too run down, "Nabiki is a girl after all."

"Hey!"

A light punch to his head and they laughed, even Kasumi smiled.

"Ranma, I'm sure you'll take care of my sister. I don't know how father will take it given you're still a little too young, but I can make up some reason for him and Akane."

"I can't tell you things are going to be great over here, sis, I mean I miss home already. Akane and daddy do grow on you after seventeen years of life or so. But," She looked to Ranma and tightened her hold on his hand, "in a way, daddy is going to get his wish. I like Ranma as a person, maybe even more than that..." She felt him return her hand squeeze, "He's not going to go through this alone, because I'll be with him, whether I'll just be a friend to him, a simple housemate, or as his girlfriend, or even his future wife some day." She grinned like a predator, "I'm not going to let a simple promise between parents cloud my mind, and I'm not diving head first into this relationship."

Kasumi smiled kindly, "Well, I wasn't about to convince you otherwise Nabiki, when your mind is set on something it doesn't change." She held her hand to her mouth and made a quiet laugh to herself, "It sounds like you were saying that to yourself mostly."

Ranma smirked and nudged Nabiki in the ribs, "I guess she has you figured out then..."

Pinching his elbow, eliciting a gasp from him, she glared at him, "Not really, Kasumi can notice things too you know."

"So, are you going to be staying the night?" Ranma asked the elder sister.

"I'll need to really, it's too far to go home now, and I am tired." She looked about the house, "No disrespect to the two of you, but I think I'll stay in a bed and breakfast, I don't think you have room for a third person."

Ranma turned away, "Yeah, I thought about expanding to make a few more rooms, hopefully enough for a real house."

"All in good time Ranma, all in good time..." Nabiki chided him for trying too hard, too soon. She indicated her sister, "Now be a gentleman and escort Kasumi to a hotel, you'll keep her safe, won't you?"

"Course I will!" He stood up and walked over to her, "Ready for a short walk?"

"Looking forward to it," He tone was earnest, "I've heard wonderful things about this lake."

**Present day**

Opening her eyes, Nabiki noted the time by the amount the sun had set, casting her in a warm orange, the shadows of the trees creeping up on her.

"Mmm, that was odd... Thinking about Kasumi..." Stretching her arms up over her head, Nabiki yawned, "I wonder how she is now." Shivering slightly as the cool breeze from the lake passed over her, she sunk deeper into the water, "I'd better get out now, or the cold will be even worse..."

Thinking back to the time of their formerly forgotten date, and how Ranma created heat for her, she tried to think of how he did it, and felt for her, albeit much smaller, ki.

"Well, I know it's there, and it does have the impression of being purple in colour..." She tried to manipulate it into another form, but gave up once she was screwing up her face in frustration, 'What am I doing? Ranma learned this by getting close to hypothermia and getting frostbite. There's no way I can do it inside a hot bath."

Using the traditional method of heat preservation, she pulled out her towel and got up, immediately wrapping herself in it and stepping into the changing room to pick up her clothes, before jogging into the house.

"Ranma!" She called out to him, "Can you heat up the room? I need to change!"

"Sure, just a second..." Coming outside, he pulled out the Kinjakan from beneath the bath, and used it to fire up the stove, then creating a fan from it to waft the heat from the burning blade into the bedroom.

Nabiki gasped as the hot air hit her, but her skin appreciated it greatly as she changed into clean clothes.

"Still, it is good to have free heating, that Chinese weapon is really versatile, though I hope no one steals it." Nabiki mumbled to herself, before returning to the main living room.

"Was the bath okay?" Ranma asked as he looked around the room, thinking of things he could improve on.

"Yes, it was perfect and peaceful." She didn't lie, after all the times of fighting back in Nerima, having a quiet bath time was not one of them.

"What's on your mind?" Upon her questioning look, he continued, "It looks like you have something to say, I've seen that look on your face before."

Sighing, she nodded, "Yeah, you're right..." Nabiki went to the table and sat, holding out a hand for him to join her. Understanding the gravity of the situation, he did.

"Now..." She folded her arms and closed her eyes, "You know what this is about, we're both living out here, North Japan, two teenagers, or young adults depending on your viewpoint, alone without any real means of supporting ourselves." She paused to breathe in, "What are your opinions on this?"

Ranma sat there, dumbfounded, before shaking his head, "I guess you're right, Nabiki..." He looked guiltily to one side, "I do have these plans, but nowhere did I think of to actually get them done."

"That's why I'm here." Nabiki tapped at her head, "To think of these things."

"So," He tentatively asked, "What's the plan?"

"Simple..." She got up and began to pace around the table and the room in general, "I'm getting Kasumi's help with dealing with daddy, and how I've decided to move here. Sure, it's not Tokyo any more and things will be tougher in one sense, but again, I may be in luck, because I have a lot of knowledge that people don't have. Most people tend to work in Tokyo with this information, and so there may be demand for my services." She raised a second finger, "Two, I need to finish my studies first, so an easy transfer to a local school will be best. I can quickly make connections here if need be, and get all the necessary dirt on the teachers to bribe and coerce my way up the pecking order." A third finger joined the other two, "Three, I need your help in both these things, and more."

"What kind of help?" Ranma asked, intrigued.

"Daddy is not going to like this, no matter how nice Kasumi is, and he may come down to visit. I've asked Kasumi to not mention your gender or anything, but that I was staying with a flatmate. If he does come round, you know what to do."

Nodding, after catching her drift, Ranma smirked, "Turn into a girl? No problem."

"Exactly, a boy and a girl living together, no matter how innocent it may be, will be too much for him or for anyone else to see, so I need you to pretend to be a girl when any guests come around. I know it'll be tough for you, but unfortunately, it's the only way for now."

Thinning his lips, he nodded hesitantly, "If you say so, I'll do it..."

She managed to get his pause and rushed to intercept it, "Ranma..." She strode over to him and planted a big kiss on his lips, "Don't get me wrong, okay?" Watching his eyes as they stopped swirling from the sudden passion, she spoke on, "I like you, a lot. I can't say it's real love for now, because that spell I was unwittingly put under, to find you until there was no more hope, has more or less vanished from me. Yet, despite that, I want to stay with you, because in that long journey, I learned a lot what life must have been like for you, the things you went through, and the pain you felt. For that, I want to be close to you, to see if these feelings, this understanding of you, can translate to love. I need you to know this, and know that I'm not rejecting you in any way, nor do I want to force you to do something you hate."

His jaw had half-dropped at this moment, which he promptly closed, "I know, Nabiki... I know I'm not the best guy for you, and if you chose to leave, well, I'll know why. I trust you, that's why I'll follow your ideas."

"Then you'll forgive me now if I ask you what you're going to do in the meantime..." Nabiki held his hand and got him up from the chair, she avoided his eyes, her fringe covering her face, "Are you going to stay around her fixing up the house, are you going to start working for a living, are you going back to school, or something else?"

The face of confusion appeared again, Ranma pulled her hand to loop under his arm to touch the back of his shoulder, and he hugged her, "Without anyone around, I could do what I wanted, I got by barely, stealing a few eggs, but leaving some money, then earning a small pay here and there from some fights to buy more things. But," He left the hug and tilted her face up to his, "that was not living, it was more like existing... I would never be able to able to run my own dojo like this, let alone start one up." He smiled sincerely, "Tell me what I need to do, and I'll do it, anything to keep us afloat, together, whatever."

Nabiki blushed at the close contact, and while she initiate it with the kiss, she coughed loudly and turned around, acting cool, "I'm not your master, Ranma, I won't dictate you life for you."

"Yeah, I know..." He sighed exasperatedly, "But all you can do is give advice, it's up to me if I want to take it or not, no?" He folded his arms again, "So, what are your recommendations?"

She scratched her chin, "Okay, I'll be honest with you. To run a dojo, you need to have some backing behind you, someone powerful or influential. These people are not necessarily the same people. One thing that applies to both is knowledge. For that you'll need education, no one wants lessons from someone in kindergarten, so for now you should finish school, maybe even attend the same one as me."

"Sounds good enough, but how will I get these people to notice me?" Ranma raised his eyebrow.

"Leave me to deal with the powerful ones, these are motivated by money only, and may have shady dealings. With a few lucky bribes and tips, I can get your name mentioned and spread fairly easily in that circle, and only two people need to really give their name for you to be officially authorised to run a dojo."

"So the influential ones I'll need to deal with?" He placed a hand over his head, stretching before cracking his knuckles.

"Not that way, Ranma..." She grinned sardonically, "These ones are nearby dojo owners. Anything Goes pretty much covers all the basics and even a few advanced techniques from different places. I'm sure you'll do well there, all you need to do is to impress a few people, perhaps by challenging their top pupils, before the masters begin to ask you for a spar. That way you'll learn new things, and also get their respect."

"There's still a problem though..." Ranma frowned, "How are we going to be able to afford school fees?"

"Well, daddy will cover me, no problems there. I can try and get you into school for free, but no guarantees there. You really need to pay more attention in class though, no sleeping this time."

Pouting slightly, Ranma, sighed, "I guess I have no choice, it's not like last time when pops and I freeloaded off you back then."

"There'll still be a money problem though..." Nabiki placed her hands inside her trouser pockets, "As it is, we're barely breaking even, using the leftover money I had from my school bets for decent meals and so on." She looked out the window, "We'll both need jobs, just part time, enough to get food, clothing and one day pay the bills." She looked sternly at him, "It won't be easy, we may have to work after school, or even on the weekends."

Ranma swallowed hard, "Work? But I don't know much really..."

"Relax, I've got a few ideas, but they do revolve around your girl form." Nabiki winked, making Ranma pale.

"No way! I'm not being a bunny girl again! You left me as collateral last time you had a date, remember?"

She waved him off, "Bah you got away from the security easy enough, besides, I don't plan on you doing anything risky like that, not unless things get bad for us..." She looked out the window, "Waitresses do earn a bit bit in tips, not to mention certain types of café's, though I doubt there's as many here as in Tokyo. What you need to do is something legal, but not as a guy, because the school won't be happy with us working as well as being educated."

Ranma thought it over, "Okay, I'll think about some jobs, and I'll get back to you, I need to look around town for a bit to get the hang of job hunting."

"Like I said, in the meantime, I'll get us enrolled at school. You've got to try to remain male there, no matter what. If the curse comes out, well, it won't matter much, since all the crazy people are back in Nerima anyway. Just try to keep it a secret for now, if at all possible." She paused for a few seconds, "Hang on... What's happened with your records? Aren't you officially dead?"

"Yep, Ranma Saotome is no more." He grinned, a little too proudly, "But I also thought of something else, I would need to have some kind of record if I wanted to continue living normally, so I've prepared some documents to put into the system, with the same information about me, only to say I was an orphan. I just need to have time to go to a Public Records office to use the pressure point to make people my slave for an hour to get them in. I even thought of using an old orphanage which has been shut down years ago." He was about to go on, before he saw her face, "What?"

"How the hell did you come up with that?" Nabiki asked, mouth agape, "That was what I was thinking of..."

"I guess you just rubbed off on me in the end." He admitted, "When I used the formula I was ready to come back, thanks to what you said about removing me from the system. I knew that if I suddenly reappeared years later, things would be difficult without any information on me."

She sat down, shocked, "That's... very well thought out, Ranma. Even I believed you wouldn't even want to come back, that all you wanted was to die.'

"Like I said, I would never have thought of the idea without you." He moved to her and patted her back, "And don't worry, I'm still here, I haven't given up at all."

She smiled inside, "Good, I'm glad to hear it..." She got up and clapped her hands, "Okay, I'll get to work now on finding a nearby school and getting my documents transferred over. Like I said, careful of daddy or any guests, we need to have people see you as the girl."

"No need to remind me, I know..." Ranma smirked, I may be a little dim and I know I'm not the brightest student out there, but I do have a good memory, thanks to pops no less."

"Whilst I'm researching schools, I'll also find out where the local Public Records office is. In the meantime, see about getting a decent lock on our door, and also check out some jobs."

"Sure, for the time being, I can just lodge some wood into the keyhole to seal it up, and I want to get part of that cupboard fixed."

"Good point..." Nabiki clicked her fingers, "I'll get daddy to help me in getting this land for me from the registry, just so we can legally live here at least."

"Ahh..." Ranma froze, "that means he'll definitely come around then, to see the place..."

"You're probably right, why buy land if you've never seen it before. Daddy's slow, but not a complete fool... I'll get Kasumi to help us, maybe to come along herself with him."

"That should help us..." He began to scratch his head harder.

"Look..." Nabiki pulled Ranma by the hand, and out of the house into the back, with the view of the lake there. "I know this is a lot to take in, and you're probably worried inside about things going wrong, but we have one thing in our favour."

"What's that then?" Ranma enquired, his stress evident.

"Each other." She smiled and kissed him once more on the lips, this time more sedate and polite, "We'll get through this, and even if we don't end up married, or lovers, we'll still be friends, and that's a guarantee from me personally."

"Wow, that's one big promise, sure you can keep it?" Ranma cheekily jested.

"Of course I can." She put her arms on her hips as the sun began to set, "I'm Nabiki Tendo, and nothing can stop me."

**Author's Notes**

And you thought this story would never be written...

It almost wasn't, I'll be honest with you. But, as with all my other stories, I can't give an exact release schedule, due to work commitments.

I know, the start is a bit wordy, and almost no action, unless you can kissing and walking action packed. I had to get this out of the way, I mean the ending of the previous story was fine, they move in together in a small town/city, without electricity or money, and they live happily ever after? It could happen, but only in an ideal world, or an anime-based one. This is an anime, but has strayed into real life in certain respects, the military involvement, and actual problems faced by particular characters, be it physical or otherwise.

Though most of you won't like it, and I'll admit I'm not too happy with the way the chapter turned out, but given how Nabiki evolved in the previous story, she would need to state her misgivings about the whole set up, which Ranma even agrees he thought was hard to continue the way they were going.

Thankfully, with this exposition out of the way, I can safely ignore the boring job and school hunt, and move on to the more juicy parts, namely the inevitable arrival of Soun, and the new trials Nabiki and Ranma have to go through to live together.

Suffice it to say, it won't be easy...

- J


	2. Stumbling Blocks

**In my Arms, In my Heart**

**Chapter 2**

**Stumbling Blocks**

**Two days later  
Saotome Cottage**

"Like the name?"

"Well, it kinda makes sense, but don't you want yours to be on it also?" Ranma scratched his head.

"Nope, daddy will buy the land anyway regardless, but we need a nice place to call home." Nabiki finished the signpost with a small mailbox outside with a flourish. _We've already got the Tendo Dojo, might as well give Ranma his own home._

"But it doesn't really look like a cottage..." Ranma was still dubious, "If I had to put a name to it, it would be closer to derelict, or ruin..."

"Shush you." She stuck her tongue out at him, "Just give me this little bit of fun for once. I've registered our names at the school, and gave this name including the region, so they know where we live now." She tapped the home-made sign with the carving, made by Ranma simply tracing the wood with a ki-hardened finger.

"So, what's the school like?" He asked as they went in, locking the new door behind them.

"Just your average bog-standard secondary school you can find anywhere in Japan. No kendo masters with illusions of grandeur, no chefs who fight with oversized kitchen utensils, no rival schools with pupils who use rose petals to disappear, no Chinese students from a small village, and finally no people who turn up once a month because they got lost on the way to the locker room." She paused for a breather, "I could go on listing everyone you met back at school, but I think you catch my drift."

"That's good..." Ranma sat in the chair and leaned back, "A normal school."

Nabiki sighed loudly, "Come on Ranma, if there's one thing you should know by now, it's that your life is never normal, and that somehow you attract strange people near you." She winked, "I'm one of them don't forget, I scoured for you throughout Japan and China just to get a glimpse of you. Don't be complacent and fall for what other people say or do, and especially try not to get too much attention, not yet at least."

"Yeah, you've taught me that much when we've been together." He nodded.

A fluttering by the window indicated that someone was trying to come in. As it was tapping the glass impatiently, Nabiki went over to open the door.

"Hi Ranko, good journey?"

The eagle landed on her arm and bowed its head twice, before squawking a few times, dropping the message into her other hand at the same time.

"Ah, so you got a good meal on the way." Nabiki raised her eyebrow, "That better not have affected your flying speed." A disgruntled chirp was her reply, "Okay, fine, I believe you. How was your stay there?" Its head moved to one side before another few squawks came out, "I thought so, Kasumi really does do too much." Stroking the bird's head, she smiled warmly, "Thanks for the message, you can sleep now."

Enjoying the feel of Nabiki's fingers the Messenger stood up tall and became wood once more. Placing the statue on the counter, she unfolded the letter.

"Kasumi." She said to Ranma unnecessarily, "She says that daddy is quite upset, and so is Akane, no surprise there then. He'll be coming some time next week, and she'll be coming with him."

"That'll be good day then..." Ranma quipped sarcastically, "I'd better get the cold water ready."

Nabiki smirked, "Yeah, I'll try to be home too that day." She looked at him, "So, you ready for school tomorrow?"

"I think so..." He looked at his bag behind him, "I still have my old textbooks, do you need the documents from the Public Offices?"

She shook her head, "We can do that later, right now a bit of education won't hurt us, will it?" She winked at him, "I also convinced them to put you in the same class as me, so this'll be your last year of formal education, unless you want to go to university or anything like that."

He shrugged, "I don't know about that, I mean I never had any real hobbies other than the art."

"I thought so, that's good, because now they're looking at seeing what you want to do in your life, like career-wise and so on." She wiped the table as she sat down next to Ranma, "For me, it's easy, I can go into accountancy without a moment's notice. However, perhaps a real job would do once I graduate, then I can see about going to university later."

"Do you want me to carry you to school?" Ranma asked in a gentlemanly fashion.

"Seeing as it is a few miles away, and that there's almost no public transport near here, that would be great." She grinned, "I don't even mind if you jump a few trees now and then, but we have to remain fairly normal when we get closer to the school."

"Got it..." He agreed, "I'll walk you home as well, from work also if you want." He thought of something and asked her another question, "How should I explain the fact we go to and from school together?"

"We're just friends." Nabiki stated simply, "That's all they need to know, definitely don't say we were engaged, we don't want the weirdos to pop up again."

"Easier said than done." Ranma sighed, "I hope no one tries to challenge me to a fight or anything..."

"This isn't Nerima, Ranma, people are more human here, no random fights for honour or things like that."

"I can't even think of what a normal school is like..." He thought back, "I only remember one school Ryoga and I went to, and then Furinkan High."

"Not good examples..." Nabiki flexed her muscle in her arm, "I'm going for my job after school, filing things away for a local accountant. Not great but it's a start."

"I got my uniform too for that maid café I found, the owner has kept it there for me." He seemed proud, "I was lucky to find it among all those shops. The guy wanted me immediately also, said he liked my hair."

"Yeah, about that..." Nabiki looked out the window, "Be careful there, Ranma."

"Why?" He was confused, "I can handle a few trays, no worries there."

She shook her head, "That's not what I meant..." She realised he didn't understand what kind of café it was, "Just, watch out, that's all I'll say."

**The next day  
9am**

"My name's Ranma Saotome. Pleased to meet you all."

"I'm Nabiki Tendo. It'll be nice to get to know some new people here."

They both bowed lightly and after the teacher showed them their seats, they went to sit among a hubbub of noise.

Glancing at each other, Nabiki winked at Ranma, confident that things had begun well.

"So, are you two going out or something?" A girl whispered to Nabiki, her neighbour when she sat down.

She was ready for this question, and swept a hand through her hair, "No, nothing like that, we're just friends."

"That's good..." The girl in question stared at Ranma, her eyes looking over his body, "I was worried for a moment..." She held out her hand, "The name's Yuko, good to meet you."

"Same here." Nabiki shook her hand briefly, before pulling out her books.

_I'm still a bit stupid... _

She placed them neatly in front of her, ready for the coming lessons.

_I didn't consider the fact that people may actually like Ranma, or want to go out with him... _A quick glance at Yuko confirmed her opinion, as the girl was busy scribbling on a piece of paper. _She's writing down things she can say to him, not good, not good at all..._

Catching Ranma talking to some other boys, she began to panic.

Seeing her look over at him, Ranma winked fast, returning her earlier one, before turning to the two guys that started speaking to him.

"Like I told ya, we're just friends, that's all."

"She has a nice rack, does she work out?"

Ranma growled, and cracked his knuckle by merely clenching his fist. The boy who said that got the message, but Ranma felt he had to say something also.

"Just because she's only my friend, doesn't mean you can say things like that." He narrowed his eyes, "Don't talk about her that way again."

"O-Okay..." The boy, whom Ranma didn't bother to catch his name, shirked away.

Turning back to face the front, annoyed at how someone referred to Nabiki, he tried to pay attention to the lesson.

**Lunchtime**

The layout of the school was similar to all the other schools in Japan, as they were all modelled after a standard, to keep an impression of community.

Therefore, it wasn't strange to find Nabiki and Ranma sitting underneath a tree in the playground, almost in the exact location as the one back in their old home.

"So, what do you think so far?" She asked, tucking into her bread from the cafeteria.

"It's okay, it's a bit quiet..." Ranma leaned back against the tree, "I don't really like the guys though."

"Well, it's early days yet." Nabiki looked up at the school, "It's better for the place to be quiet than to have lots of fights, right?"

"That's true." Ranma grinned, "I kinda miss it though, Kuno's face just needs to have my foot in it."

"Yes, I'm sure his doctor will agree too, the number of times he's visited him would certainly mean he earned a lot for that."

They both laughed out loud, before Yuko turned up.

"Hey, Ranma, this is Yuko, she sits next to me."

"Hi there." He waved good-naturedly.

"Do you mind if I sit with you two?" She had her bentou with her.

"Sure, there's plenty of space," Nabiki waved at the tarmac, "Help yourself."

Sitting next to them, Yuko opened her lunchbox and the smell of freshly cooked rice and spices attacked their senses.

Ranma began to pine for a nice home-cooked meal, his own cooking not really up-to-scratch.

Yuko saw this impression from him, that and the small amount of drool, and she held up the bentou to him, "Would you like some?"

His instant reaction in normal circumstances was to say yes, however, he realised that Nabiki was nearby, eating her bread very slowly.

"Nah..." He ate his own food, "I'm okay thanks," He smiled back at her, "Maybe another time."

Nabiki wolfed down the rest of her bread, gulping to try to allow it to enter her stomach faster.

Ranma noticed her choking sounds and hit her sharply on the back, as she took in a deep breath.

"You okay, Nabiki?" He asked out of concern.

"Fine, thanks..." She gathered up her dignity and stood up, "I'd better take this chance to look at the school."

"Oh, you want me to come along?" Ranma began to get to his feet.

"No, it's alright..." She tapped him on the shoulder, pushing him back to the floor unceremoniously, "I'll just look around on my own, you can get Yuko to help you."

His awkward expression followed by Yuko's ecstatic one was all the incentive Nabiki needed to get into the school.

As she strolled in, changing into her indoor slippers at the same time, she began to look around, memorising the classrooms and which department they belonged to.

_Well, it had to be expected... _She sighed loudly, attracting the attention of some male students. _Ranma and I would be the talk of the class for the first few week. It's no doubt people like Ranma, girls especially._

She reached the roof of the school, and saw that there wasn't anyone up there. Walking to the tall fence, she looked down at the playground to see Ranma still talking to Yuko, the latter fairly animated.

_I know we're being friendly now, and that we may plan to be more, but I'm not going to tie him to me, if he doesn't want to. He needs to see some other options._

She felt the breeze and held her top closer to her.

_I can't exactly hog him all to myself, I'm not that selfish. He deserves better than me anyway. I'm just a girl who was magically forced to find Ranma, nothing more. I shouldn't try to control his life any more than I do now, it'll just upset him._

She turned to go back inside.

_At least the day's almost over, just a few more hours, then I go to work._

**3:30pm  
School**

The bell rang, and two people were first out of their classes, running down the steps and out into the street outside.

"Nabiki, I'll meet you at the square to take you home, okay?" Ranma stated whilst jogging next to her.

"No problem, meet you at seven there." She was breathing slightly heavily.

"Here..." He saw they were out of sight from the school at this point. Picking her up, he leapt a few streets and buildings to get somewhere close by, "Better?"

She relaxed, trying to cool down, "Thanks, Ranma, you didn't have to do this though..."

He shrugged, "It's no sweat for me, it gets us closer and you don't need to run so fast."

She pinched him on the arm jokily, "You're such a gentleman." Her wry smile returned, "Be sure to treat all girls like that?"

"Huh?" He put her down as they were within walking distance, "What do you mean?"

Keeping a cool face, she waved him off, "Nothing, doesn't matter." She adjusted her skirt as it was slightly ruffled at the edges from their run, "I'm going to go in now, and earn ourselves some cash." She winked at him, "You do the same, but don't forget to change somewhere."

"Yeah, I already found a private place thanks to you." Ranma grinned as he pulled out a small bottle of water, "This should be enough for me."

"Like I said though, be careful there." She warned him gently.

"I don't get it, it's just a café where you dress up as a maid...?" He scratched his head, "You already said the same yesterday..."

"Never mind... Just, don't lose you temper, promise me, okay?" Her worried expression surprised him.

"Okay, I promise!" He sighed loudly, "Though I don't get it, I won't get angry."

"Good." She thumbed at the building behind her, "I'm going to work now, I'll meet you later, okay?"

"Have fun." Ranma grinned, knowing how she liked finances.

"I will." She returned the smile.

As she turned around, Ranma ran off with his top speed to get to the café he was due to work at.

**Thirty minutes later  
Nabiki's workplace**

Reading over figures, she cross-referenced them with those in the database. Marking each one she worked on, she noted any discrepancies in the forecast for the next month's expenditure.

She understood almost immediately what her boss wanted her to do; the job description of filing was only a minor part of her job. Despite her being a woman, Nabiki managed to unnerve him by repeating what he wanted in greater detail, using official terminology.

_That'll show him for thinking I'm stupid just because I'm a girl._

She continued to type in the database, occasionally sipping from the plastic cup of water she was given at the same time, ignoring her other colleagues, who were much older than her.

_I know that they're not going to take my work as is, they'll need to double-check it themselves just in case the newbie got it wrong after all. _She firmed her resolve. _But, I'll make sure that I get nothing wrong, so much so that they'll have no option but to give me more things, until finally I'll be too useful to just walk away after I leave school. _

She smirked. _It's a difficult plan, but with this much opportunity in it, I have to take this chance to excel at everything to get far._

"How are things going Nabiki-kun?"

She looked up to her boss, touch typing her notes whilst still speaking to him, "Going well Kimura-san. I've finished the first quarter results and working on the second quarter. There's been an increase in personal expenditure for personal taxis by a large amount from particular people."

He peered closer at her monitor, taking this chance to glance at her cleavage, Nabiki did not miss this look.

"Most interesting, I look forward to your final report by the end of this week." He patted her shoulder, "You know, you may have a long future with us, all things considering."

_Yeah, considering the fact you may try something with me, or for me to magically want to rise up the ranks by sleeping to the top. _She smiled outwardly. _I'm not going to take that route, much to your surprise when I report you to your superiors in a few month's time._

"I am only too happy to help, Kimura-san."

"Good, I'll let you get on then." He adjusted his circular lensed glasses and walked around the other cubicles.

Saving the document, she moved on to another, and thought about the person she was closest to, worrying for him.

_I hope you're okay Ranma..._

**Meanwhile  
Maid café**

"Three vanilla milkshakes and one mille-feuille right here sirs!"

The redhead was unmistakably happy, her bright smile a surprise hit with the clientèle, and the owner offered a fairly handsome wage for just a starter, and was even more impressed when she showed how many trays she could hold at the same time.

She didn't mind the frilly outfit she had to wear, as no one here knew her real identity, and it fit well, unlike most of her male clothing which was always a bit loose when she became a girl.

Thinking only of the money, Ranma hummed to herself as she served the customers, each of whom were young men, most of them fairly fat and wore weird clothing.

She saw the other waitresses wore tired looks, each one grimacing slightly as they approached and left tables, though she was unsure as to why.

Until she felt a hand brush up from behind and beneath her skirt, only for a second.

She froze, still holding the tray from earlier, and turned slowly to the only person that hand could have belonged to.

A thin man, somewhat resembling a less healthy version of Gosunkugi returned her look, his hands folded away on the table.

"What?" He defensively asked, his friends sniggering beside him.

The owner of the café spotted this immediately, knowing that this did happen there, but waiting until the customers got too angry before intervening.

"You..." She pointed at him with the empty tray, "You touched me."

"Who says?" He shrugged, "Did anyone else see that, did you guys?"

His friends just shook their heads, chuckling beneath their hands.

"How's about you try that again?" Ranma was used to Kuno acting amorous, but this was something else she hadn't expected.

Cracking her knuckles she picked up his can of some domestic beer, drained by now of course.

"This is what will happen to your fingers if you do that again, to anyone here..."

Gripping the can with one hand, she proceeded to crush it entirely, folding it with her fingers until it resembled something akin to a 50 yen coin, with the hole in the middle as well.

"Here's your tip..."

She flicked it in the air, landing on his head and bouncing onto his plate, his stunned face showing some sort of incomprehension on it.

Sending one more glare to him and his friends, they got up and half ran out of the door, leaving a large amount of money on the table, not even waiting for their change.

"Thank you, and come again soon!" She exclaimed cheerfully, before muttering, "If you haven't already that is..."

Growling to herself, she stalked off to the bar and to the staff room, only to be followed by the owner.

"Ranma-kun..." He began, "I saw what you did back there."

At least she used her real name, but he didn't ask for any birth certificate of the sort as yet, so for the time being kept all information about herself more or less private.

Ranma sighed however, knowing that she may get into trouble now, "Yes boss, what's up? Something wrong?"

"Not wrong exactly..." He sat down at the table, pouring himself some tea, "Usually our girls keep away from that guy, he's always trying these things, but there's nothing I can do, as he's a paying customer."

"Perhaps you could bar him from coming in again..." Ranma mentioned off hand, grabbing some fresh oranges and squeezing them herself into a glass instead of using the machine provided, as she needed to let off steam somehow.

"I could, but his father is influential, not someone I want to get on the wrong side with."

"Influential, huh?" Ranma held her chin, thinking about what Nabiki said before, "In what way...? Government, financial or...?"

The owner pulled his tie down, getting nervous.

"Yes, Sakata-san?" Ranma used his name to get his attention more.

"Well, more of the 'other' category..." He shifted his eyes, "But I didn't tell you that."

"Local mob boss then... I see, not someone I should mess with, not yet anyway."

"What do you mean?!" Sakata was scared now, "You're not going to -"

"Don't be silly." She interrupted him, "I won't touch the boy, trust me, but a few scares like that wouldn't hurt."

"You mean, you didn't touch him?" Sakata was surprised.

"Nope, though I can't say the same for what he did to me." She glowered at her juice.

"Then it's settled." He clapped his hands together, "You seem to be a bit more head-strong than the other girls here..." He glanced at the door briefly, "No offence to you or them, but you are a bit more tomboyish, and with strength to show it."

"Heh, none taken..." She grinned, at least she wasn't becoming more of a woman being in that outfit.

"I can help the girls only so much," He looked worried, "would you be so kind as to help me out when we have some difficult customers?"

"Like that guy then?"

"That's right, when I need your help, I'll just ask you to serve a table with a special red tray, just to warn them in your own way, without harming them. Despite them scaring our girls, they are also our main customers. Without them we would be without a job."

"No problem." She smirked, "I hope you give me that tray soon."

"Thanks, Ranma-kun." He nodded in satisfaction.

"No, thank you Sakata-san."

Returning to the café itself, the other girls watched Ranma with slightly happier faces, after word of what she did spread. Smiling confidently, she winked at them, and flexed her arm muscle, going further to prove that they were all well protected.

**7pm  
Central Square**

Nabiki tapped her foot impatiently. She had sped through her work not because she had to rush, but because it was so beneath her abilities that she unconsciously worked at her normal processing speed, which was far above that of a normal trainee.

_I was surprised at completing everything so soon, I even checked and double-checked the work again, but I still had plenty of time to spare._

People walked by, couples holding hands, other just walking home from work.

_I even asked for more work, which Kimura gave me. At least it was of a slightly higher level, which, while still not taxing enough for me, nice pun by the way, it gave me a little more exercise of my brains._

The clock in the square struck for seven o'clock, echoing so far as her, since it was drowned out by the hubbub of the city, _Despite everything, I had to finish early, much to my chagrin, since I don't want to seem like I was slacking off at this stage._

She ground her teeth. _Kimura noticed this, but acknowledged the fact that I had at least completed the work right, and so he let me go, promising to give me something harder for the next day._

She held her body closer as she sat on the bench, the wind beginning to bite at her heels.

_Not useful, having a skirt in this weather, perhaps I need to invest in an overcoat for times like this. _

She shivered slightly as her nose began to tingle at the thought of the chill passing up her legs. _Damn it Ranma, where the hell are you? _

The air around her began to grow warmer, and she too felt warmer both inside and out.

"You're late, Ranma."

"Not really, you're just early as always." He grinned as he appeared from behind her, "Ready to go?"

"Yes, I need a long hot bath, I don't want to catch a cold now of all times."

"Oh..." He idly picked up her bag and looped it over his head to carry it for her, "You were that cold?"

"I've not had years of training like yourself, I'm just a girl."

"Girls are strong too..." He laughed as they walked out of the square, "Like those ones at the café..." His face clouded over.

"Did something happen there?" Nabiki was dreading the answer.

"Yes, and no..." He gave her a thumbs up, "Trust me, I didn't lose my temper, just showed someone that you can't mess about with women like that."

She breathed a sigh of relief, "Ranma, defender of women, it's got a nice ring to it." She cheekily nudged him in the side.

"Not quite, but I think it must be hard to be a girl all the time, harder than I can imagine."

"You're right about that." Nabiki sighed, "I may never reach the level I want, women are second class citizens in this country, and don't get me started on foreigners..."

Sensing Nabiki's downward mood, Ranma chose a new tact, "You know, girls are strong, but some lucky ones can get stronger."

"What's brought this on?" Nabiki was surprised at the change of topic.

"You, for some reason you have some ki that I can see, when you're really upset that is..."

"Yeah, I think I got it some time ago, not sure when..." She thought about it, "I think it's purple coloured, but it is tiny."

"If you want..." He glanced at her, "I can help you train to make it bigger."

She groaned, "No, come on Ranma, I don't need training, there are no battles to be won, or at least, none that can be won with fists alone."

"I'm not talking about stuff like that..." He dropped his warm ki and suddenly they both felt the cold, though he was much more used to it than she was.

"What did you do that for?" She grumbled, holding her jacket closer to her body.

"Like this..." He looked at her now, "Your ki is really small, but with a few weeks training from me, you may not even need a jacket for the cold." He peered closely, "You may not see it, but right now it is working, but it's not strong enough to keep the cold away."

Nabiki looked at herself, but couldn't see anything, "I suppose I need to be more used to ki, right now I'm too grumpy to see anything."

"Besides, I may have found someone interesting where I work, a mob boss of some sorts."

"You what?!" Nabiki grabbed his by the collar and dragged him to an alley, "Why didn't you say so?!" She was searching everywhere looking for a tail or something out of the ordinary.

"What wrong with you?" He held her hand, "It was just his son, and I didn't fight him or anything." He looked to one side, "I already checked, no one is following us, I just opened the lines of communication, like you said, we have a way to get what we want."

"I guess you're right..." _My paranoia must be getting to me... _"Just promise me you won't do anything stupid, okay?"

"Gees thanks for the vote of confidence..." He sighed, "Trust me, I'm not going to do anything weird." He looked about the place, "Looks quiet, want to start roof hopping home for that bath of yours?":

"God, yes please..."

Picking her up in his arms, he leapt a few walls before jumping from roof to roof, heading straight for their small home by the lake, where a warm bath awaited Nabiki, who held Ranma closer enjoying the heat he was generating.

**---  
Author's Notes**

Another chapter in the life of Ranma and Nabiki after the original.

Hopefully, this is more realistic, but not too odd compared to my previous story. I plan on bringing in more action and drama later, not to mention the return of some much loved people.

Have a good read!

- J


	3. An Expected Visitor

**In my Arms, In my Heart**

**Chapter 3**

**An Expected Visitor**

**A week later  
Saotome Cottage**

"Ranma, Ranko's back!" Nabiki cried out to the bath where he was soaking.

"Great, any interesting news?" He shouted back as he sighed out, enjoying the heat soothing his bones.

"Oh nothing really, Kuno is putting on the moves to Akane, and she's actually accepting them, Kasumi says that everyone else is going on with their lives normally." Nabiki paused for a second, "Ryoga popped up once too, but he was looking for me."

"Good, good..." Ranma felt sleepy and began to sink into the bath further.

"Oh, and daddy is coming over in two days, Kasumi will be with him."

"What?" A loud metallic sound similar to that of a church bell echoed in the trees nearby, and the back door opened up showing a worried Ranma, "Your dad's coming here?"

Nabiki arched an eyebrow, "Yes, I told you that he would eventually want to visit this area, not to mention I need him to cosign the lease documents for this piece of land as my guardian. It's not unexpected."

"Oh, I guess you're right, I forgot about that..."

"Speaking of unexpected, perhaps some clothing would help?" She nodded at his body, "I know we live out in the woods near the lake, but there's no need to get completely back to nature by wearing our birthday suits, don't you agree?"

"Huh?" Ranma felt a sudden chill from the wind and looked down, before turning beet red, "Oh crap!" Running into the bedroom, as the bath had toppled over when he leapt out of it, he tried to find some clothes of his.

Chuckling to herself, Nabiki felt better. _Aah, I needed a little comic relief, it's been a tough week here. Kimura is pressing me regarding my workload, but I'm still doing better than he expects. _

She looked to the room Ranma escaped into, still hearing him try to find some clothes. _Ranma's holding up well in his job, I heard that he became something of a hero to the girls that work there. He's certainly taking it in his stride. I suppose to him it must be another form of training._

"Right, all done!" Ranma proudly stepped out of the room, now fully clothed though his hair was a little wet. Nabiki tutted loudly and picked up a towel from a rack near the door.

"Come on Ranma, you have to dry yourself first before putting on clean clothes, no?" She began roughly running the towel over his head, catching all the beads of water from his impromptu exit from the bath.

"Okay, I get it, Nabiki!" Ranma took over and rapidly dried out his hair, before taking off the towel, "There, how's that?"

Seeing multiple strands of hair standing up after being handled badly, tufts of hair pointing in the wrong direction, Nabiki giggled again, "Sure Ranma, you look good."

Smiling, he placed the towel back on the rack, never the wiser.

Nabiki looked over that timetable for the visit, it would be a Saturday, so Ranma would be working a shift in the morning for the lunch rush, whilst she could stay around the house and prepare.

"So, about that day..."

"Yeah, we need to talk about that... What's my role?" Ranma sat at the table and leant back in the chair, "Innocent girlie flatmate? No idea of martial arts? Politely staying out of family matters?"

Nabiki blinked. _Oh my, he's getting faster at understanding these kinds of situations... _"In a nutshell, yes, you don't need to be overly feminine though, tomboy behaviour is allowed. There's no way they would suspect you of a Jusenkyo curse, so keep away from hot water if you know what's good for you."

"I'll let you make the tea then." Ranma grinned widely.

Nabiki smiled back, "That would make sense." She looked down at her list, "Right, we need to hide away all items that could trigger a 'reaction' in them. We don't want anybody else discovering who you are, let alone daddy. Kasumi can help us out, but even her efforts may be in vain if we have the Kinjakan out in full view."

"No problem, I can hide the honour blade and anything else of mine away. There's a hidden floorboard under the bed where you can put stuff. What's next?"

"Well, it will be inevitable, but daddy may want to get to know you, ask about yourself and your past. It's only natural seeing as I'm living with you now. Remember, I moved here for no real reason. I can make up some random excuse like having to get away from the crazy life in Nerima, and for some alone time, but this will not be enough."

"So, you're saying that why, of all places, did you choose this tiny home, with me?"

"Exactly." Nabiki shrugged, "And to be honest, I can't think of a real reason, this place isn't exactly a high-flying place to make tonnes of money, any of the big cities would be better."

"The quiet maybe? Being surrounded by nature?" Ranma suggested.

"Possibly... Not to mention that this place will be called Saotome Cottage, perhaps I could use that as a reason, a familiar name."

"And a likeable roommate, no?" Ranma winked at her.

"Yeah, the effect isn't exactly the same if you're a guy." She winked back and got a response by way of a blush.

"So, my name is...?" Ranma asked, just to get the story right.

"Ranko Saotome, no relation to Genma naturally." Nabiki pursed her lips, "You're officially an orphan in your male family records, however the same doesn't quite have to be true for your female form."

"I don't think registering myself at two people would help, it may complicate things more when it comes to the government." Ranma frowned.

"Yeah, you're right..." She thought it over more, "You're called Ranma at the café, and no one has noticed anything weird yet. Perhaps Ranko would be fine for now, try to avoid any odd questions about your background."

"Sure thing!" Ranma laughed and stretched his arms up, "Creating one for my new self was hard enough as it is!"

Nabiki could only grin in return, "I'm still amazed at how well you did it."

"If he does pressure me for my family history, what should I do?" Ranma turned serious, "Should I just make up something quickly, like running away from home or being another orphan?"

Nabiki shook her head, "No, we can't risk saying anything more about your past. I'll just intervene, and I'm sure Kasumi will back me up, saying that it would be rude to ask something like that of you."

"Nice idea!" Ranma was much more relaxed, "Nothing could possibly go wrong now!"

_Great, nice job breaking it hero, tempting fate isn't good, given how Jusenkyo likes to mess about with water so often..._

Nabiki held her head as another headache came back to her.

"Is that everything covered then?" Ranma spoke, then frowned, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, just another migraine." She popped two pills from a packet in her pocket and drank them down with a quick burst of tap water.

"Doesn't seem fine to me..." He eyed the pills, "How long you been taking medicine?"

"Not long..." _No reason for him to worry about, it only started a few months when I was trying to find him... _

"That's not exactly answering my question, Nabiki..." Ranma eyed her carefully.

_Another side-effect of helping him all the time, he's learning! _She began to chuckle at her own defeat, "Well, you got me there, I've been taking them for longer than a month now, you know, when I was still looking for you."

"Oh yeah..." He sheepishly scratched the back of his head, "Uh... Sorry."

"Idiot..." She got up and tapped him on his head with her knuckle, "No need for apologies, I told you before."

"Shouldn't you go to a doctor?" He changed the topic to avoid the guilt that threatened to wash over him.

"Nah, it'll pass, just happens to me when I get a little stressed."

"A little?" Ranma widened his eyes, "You must've been going mad inside searching, but why are you still stressed now?"

"Setting up a new life, trying to remember if I did everything right, filing all the necessary papers, bills and whatnot. After some time, it does get to you in the end."

"Okay!" Ranma jumped up, "That settles it, I know exactly to relax you."

He grabbed her wrist, but despite his strong hand he held it gently, Nabiki held back a flush, then began to panic as he guided her towards the bedroom.

_Wait... What is he doing?_

"I'm skilled in multiple techniques, this should be easy for a girl like you!"

_Oh God... What kind of things is he going to do to me?_

Knowing that it wouldn't be possible to resist him, given his recent displays in Nerima, she began to grow numb as he led her to their final destination.

Closing her eyes in the meantime, she was puzzled at gust of wind. _Don't tell me, he took off his own clothes in an instant...? Or are they my clothes, it is really cold all of a sudden..._

She then realised that the air was much colder, and that some insects were chirping.

Opening her eyes again, she saw Ranma let her go and stand opposite her.

"Okay, just copy what I do, I'm going to teach you no matter what you say." He looked at her face, "What's wrong, is it too cold?"

Nabiki realised her face was red, and held her cheeks. _Damn it, he's right, what's wrong with me? I'm acting like Akane again... Ranma would never do something like that... _

Coughing once, she nodded, "Yeah, I am cold to be honest..."

Ranma held his chin and smiled, "Then this will be good practice..." He stood up tall and looked at her, "Has your dad taught you before?"

"Just the very basic stuff, and that was a while ago..." She grinned, "I have become a little better at throwing weapons to hit my target though."

"Okay, so I'll start easy." Nabiki moved into a defensive position, "I'm not going to spar with you, not yet at least. For now we're going to mould your ki, to give you some defence at least."

"From punches?" Nabiki wondered, remembering how Ryoga withstood many painful attacks at once.

"From nature." Ranma grinned, "Punches and kicks come later. If you're not affected by the heat or the cold, you're already ahead of your opponent. That's what pops says – used to say." Ranma hesitated.

Nabiki sighed loudly, "I'm not getting out of this, am I?"

Ranma shook his head happily, "Not any more."

"Okay, I'll train, but I can't spend too long doing it, there is still homework." She dusted down her jeans and top just in case.

"Don't worry, half an hour is all you need to start off."

Ranma stood with his legs slight apart, his right fist enclosed with his left hand, both arms bent at the elbow to allow the hands to be in front of the chest. He lowered his head slightly closed his eyes.

"Just copy this stance for now, and close your eyes."

Sighing quietly to herself, Nabiki did so, despite her arms already shivering from the cold.

"Okay, now just breathe in and out deeply. Feel the cold air going inside..."

"Not sure my frozen nose would appreciate that..."

"... and the warmer air leaving you and heating your hands..." He ignored her interruption. "Keep doing this until I say otherwise."

They continued for five minutes until Nabiki's shivering slowed. She peeked out from one eyelid to see Ranma concentrating in the same pose, his ki fainting visible.

"No looking..." Ranma surprised her, and she closed her eye, "My senses are open now, so I heard the movement." Smirking, he lowered his arms. "Okay, you can rest now."

Nabiki lowered her arms and looked around, "Was that it?"

Ranma looked at her with his arms folded, "How do you feel?"

"Well, I guess the wind has died down a bit, so it isn't as cold."

"Oh?" He was smiling a bit, "Try waving your hands around in the air, like you're trying to do a backstroke."

"Like this?" Nabiki whirled her arms alternately in wide circles, reaching over her head and lying flat against her side for ten revolutions.

"Okay, now how do you feel?" He walked closer to her.

"A bit chilly, it's colder now?" Nabiki did feel the wind biting at her again.

"I don't know how pops learned this technique, but it is useful, it's how I first began to hone my survival skills." Ranma spoke clearly, "Without going into too much detail, because pops didn't either, by warming your hands up, you're fooling your body that somehow you feel warm overall."

"You mean, like placing your wrist under a running tap in summer to cool your body down? The cold water cools your blood vessels, and the blood passing through these parts reaches every part of your body in around ten seconds or so."

"Sounds similar." Ranma nodded, "The difference here is the ki." He threw a punch and held it there, giving Nabiki a side view of his attack, "When we fight, we use ki to defend and attack, but to really damage the person, we put a little bit more ki in the attacking body parts."

To illustrate this, Ranma's fist glowed blue as he let his ki leak out.

Nabiki placed a finger on her cheek, "Makes sense, a general ki shield is used when defending, but I'll bet you focus your defensive ki more on where you expect a hit to land."

"Right, so to counter that the offensive ki has to be stronger to hurt the person." Ranma smirked, "Ryoga had so much depressive ki I needed to put a load of my ki into my punches just for him to notice them, his defence was so damn high."

"Tell me about it..." Nabiki held her her and felt her eyebrow, where the scar used to be, "If I had better ki, I probably wouldn't get injured so easy." She tapped her foot impatiently, "So, what does this defensive and offensive ki have to do with keeping me warm in winter?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Ranma scratched his head, "Your fists are where you usually store offensive ki. By reminding them of your own heat, they will learn to fight with warmth. As you lower your offences, this will move to your normal defensive ki."

"Thus making my defensive ki learn to generate heat..." Nabiki felt her chin briefly, "So what was all the arm waving about?"

"If your hands are warm, it's because you were heating them up, and there with little wind. When you move them around, new wind touches them, making them cold."

"I see..." _It's loosely based around keeping the extremities of the body warm, and somehow fooling the rest of the body that you are warm, when it fact it isn't_

"You can't control your ki though, so this was more of a test really, the only way is to keep practising with some basic moves, then slowly trying to apply your ki to these moves."

"Sounds interesting, but you'd better not hold back when we begin to spar together." Her sharp gaze caused Ranma to sweat a little.

"Yeah, you're right, even though you're a girl, I shouldn't hold back on you."

"Excuse me," Nabiki narrowed her eyes angrily, "'Even though I'm a girl'? What is that supposed to mean?"

"Ah..." Ranma stopped moving, realising what he said, "Damn it... Why do I keep doing that?"

"I don't know, maybe you're just a little crass sometimes..." Nabiki folded her arms, still upset, "I'm going inside now."

As she closed the door behind her, she heard him cursing to himself and heard a distant boom.

_He must be letting off some steam in the trees, we'll probably have more firewood for the stove now. _She sighed and sat down on the bed. _It's not like he's a bad person, he was just brought up in a very strange way, his dad is hardly the best of role model when it comes to treating women correctly._

She looked over at the letter from Kasumi, on a nearby counter. _I think we've got everything ready for daddy, there shouldn't be any problems as long as everything remains calm and we don't panic. _

She paused and glanced at the door behind her.

"Well, I don't think I'm the one who might panic..."

**Next day**

Nabiki got up early in the morning, and sleepily opened her eyes to see Ranma half-naked again, sprawled over his side of the bed with the sheets tangled in his limbs.

_Well, how else could we live together, we would have to share the bed with each other, as long as there was no suggestive touching, at least not yet._

Getting up slowly, she walked to the closet and got dressed very slowly and quietly to prevent him from waking up.

_I don't really mind if he sees me in the nude, but only on my terms. _She looked back at the bed to see him move and wrap himself even tighter in the quilt.

Withholding a giggle, Nabiki stepped out into the main living room and cast her gaze over the entire room. _Thanks to the distant neighbours, we've been able to borrow some of their electricity until we get connected. They said they would do it next week, so I can finally get us a fridge and charge my laptop, instead of sponging off the school to charge it mostly. I don't exactly want to inconvenience the neighbours too much._

Glancing at the icebox, she pulled out some eggs which were near the top, and the least cold.

"Still, fried eggs and toast I can make at least." grabbing a frying pan, and placing some wood in the stove, she starting cooking on the hob, and soon the smells of freshly fried eggs filled the house.

"Mmm..." A voice came from the other room, and in wandered a somewhat hungry Ranma.

"Morning Ranchan!" Nabiki excitedly welcomed him.

"Huh, Ranchan? Since when do you call me that?" He scratched his head.

"Don't know, thought I'd channel a bit of Ukyo, since she's the one who always liked to cook for you."

"Akane cooked for me also."

"That's true, though her food wasn't exactly the best tasting was it?"

Ranma chuckled and agreed with her, "I guess you're right."

Nabiki smiled to herself as she served Ranma his breakfast. _We can't keep avoiding the topic, Ranma left Nerima and everyone he knew, friends and enemies alike. _She watched as he tucked into her simple meal. _I need him to open up more about those times, just so he knows that even though the situation was difficult, there were some good moments. _

Ranma's happy face only made her warmer inside. He looked at her with a puzzled face after a moment.

"What's wrong, do I have yolk on my chin?"

"No, I'm just looking at you." She replied simply.

"Umm, why?" Ranma began to fidget under her intense stare, before Nabiki broke it off.

"Just thinking how far you and I have gone since that day you left. It amazes me still."

Ranma leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling, "We've both been through a lot, haven't we?"

"Only in fiction could these things happen..." Nabiki remarked wryly.

"Eh?" Ranma turned his head in her direction, "Sometimes I don't understand you, the things you say are really strange."

"Like two peas in a pod." Nabiki shrugged, "I don't even get what I'm saying half the time, I feel like I'm rambling." She began to wash the frying pan in the sink, "But anyway, back to the point, the fact we both chose to do so much shows that we are not normal people in most respects, don't you think?"

Ranma changed and grew sardonic, picking up his glass of water and pouring it over his head, "Yes, because I of all people am normal when it comes to rain."

"That's not what I mean you idiot..." Exasperated, she let out a long sigh and threw a towel at the redhead, "I don't mean with curses or spells, just that we are different to others, even to everyone in Nerima."

Ranma had finished drying her hair and looked at her arm muscle as she flexed it, "So, physically, we're normal you mean?"

"Hell, I don't know how to explain it, most of people we knew were strange to begin with, but only you and me went this far to leave that insane world." Nabiki tapped her head, "In here, we're better than the others, we realised something was wrong, and we were determined to change that."

Grinning widely, the martial artist took it as a compliment, "Umm, thanks, I guess..." She walked to and looked out of the window facing the front of the house, "Still, we need plenty of time to think things through this new life, or whatever this is, don't you think?"

"Yes, yes I do think..." Nabiki chortled back at his choice of words, going up to the shorter girl and patting her on the back, "But, if we put our heads together, imagine what we could accomplish as a couple instead of as individuals."

"Then, let's train our bodies as well as our minds." Ranma lifted up the window shutter and leaned outside, breathing in the air wafting up from the lake behind the house.

"That sounds like a plan." Poking her head through the window also, and feeling the fresh air, she sent out a satisfied sigh.

Leaning in, she pecked Ranma on the cheek, and smiled when the girl held where she kissed, "In any case, you've got to go to work tomorrow and get back. Most likely they'll hang around to wait to meet you just once. So don't be late, as I'll get annoyed."

Still a little shocked at the sudden dose of affection, Ranma took a few moments to respond, "Sure, I'll get back as quick as possible."

"Excellent, now, I need to make the place look a little better. You can practise a few kata in the back while I spruce up here."

"Okay, see you later."

Walking out the door, Ranma began to move fluidly into forms learnt since a young age. Nabiki watched him from the window overlooking the sink, smiling to herself.

_You know, I wonder if I'll ever be able to spar with him on the same level... It would help in normal life, I can imagine..._

Getting a little tired, she began to wash the few dishes they owned and tidied up the house for the next day.

**Next day  
3:30pm**

Ranma leapt from roof to roof, keeping to the darker areas as the sun began to set to avoid too many onlookers. Still in his female form, she ruffled her hair.

"I'm glad there were no perverts today, I don't want to be in a bad mood now. The lunch rush took some time too..."

Upon reaching the boundary of the city, Ranma landed on the ground and ran at top speed towards home.

"I wonder how Nabiki's holding up, her dad is a little pushy sometimes..." Thinking it through, she shook her head, "Nah, she'd be able to hold her own against him. There's no way he could change her mind."

Feeling the heft in her small backpack, Ranma smiled, "I didn't expect to get this many tips, need to remember to share it out with the other girls, can't take all of myself."

Reaching the front of the house, with the lake in the background, Ranma saw the warm light from inside and paused at the doorway.

Taking a deep breath, she readied herself, "Well, here goes nothing..."

Using the door knob and the trick she used to keep it locked, since the key and latch were not reliable, Ranma lifted the door slightly and pushed it open inwards.

Only to be faced with someone she did not expect to see ever again.

"So, you're my sister's housemate?" A short and somewhat upset girl was there, "Did you just come from work?"

"Aah-" Ranma faltered, trying to remember that she wasn't supposed to know anyone here, "Sorry, my name's Ranko, are you Nabiki's sister by any chance?"

Putting her hands on her hips, she replied confidently, and yet a little aggressive in her tone.

"Yes, my name's Akane, pleased to met you."

**Author's Notes**

Finally updated this story, been busy with real life.

I think I've cracked the formula for why my version of Nabiki is so popular, even to myself when writing her. She possesses a slight ability to break the fourth wall, acknowledging somehow that she is in a fantastical location where strange things happen. She can even quote TV Tropes, recognising them when they appear.

Till the next time.

- J


	4. All is well

**In my Arms, In my Heart**

**Chapter 4**

**All is well**

**A moment later  
Saotome Cottage**

"Pleased to meet you, Akane. Sorry about the state of the house…" Ranma excused herself and dropped off her bag in the bedroom.

Returning to the living room, she just noticed that Nabiki was sitting at the table with her father, Soun, who was watching Ranma curiously.

"So, you must be Saotome, the owner of this home?"

Ranma bowed politely, "Yes, I am." Smiling she nodded at Nabiki, "I'm sorry, I had to work today, so I couldn't welcome you in…"

"No, no, please don't mind us." Soun got up and smiled good-naturedly, calming Ranma slightly, "It's funny, but I live with my old friend by the same name of Saotome. I'm just surprised my daughter managed to find this place."

Ranma laughed to herself, "Well, I saw Nabiki at work; she was looking at some listings for renting apartments. I served her a drink…"

"Long story short, I asked Ranko here if she knew of any cheap places to stay. She got on her lunch break, sat with me and told me about her home here." Nabiki leaned back in her chair, "And here I am, rent free."

"Well, you were always one for the bargains, daughter." Soun chuckled to himself.

Akane was watching Ranma carefully, her arms were folded.

"So, why are you living all alone out here? What about your parents?"

Ranma's pained look wasn't entirely faked, the shock of being suddenly asked that caused her to shake a little, "I… My parents…" She bit her lip and looked away, "They're gone. I'm an orphan…"

"Akane! How could you ask that so rudely?" Soun stormed upwards and marched to her, "Nabiki already told me everything about Ranko's background."

Akane turned her head down, and her brow began to redden.

"Apologise immediately, Akane." Soun ordered her. Ranma could have sworn that a miniature version of his ghostly aura manifesting in reality.

"S-Sorry, Ranko… I'm just not used to this yet… My sister leaving…"

"So what?" Nabiki stood up, "I'm older than you, I can make my own decisions on what I want to do in my life, Akane." Nabiki put an arm on Ranma's shoulder. "Imagine the life Ranko had before now, and to get this far."

Ranma acknowledged her warmth through the contact, "It's okay, Akane, I forgive you. It just hurt a little the way you said it…" Biting her lip again, Ranma sighed, "I'm going outside for a break, I'll be back soon, Nabiki."

Leaving through the back door, Ranma jogged to the forest, leaving the three in the house.

"Now you've done it, Akane…" Nabiki rubbed her head, "I just don't understand you sometimes. I know I've been away for a while, but what has gotten into you?"

Soun was shaking his head, "You've disappointed me, Akane. Nabiki is moving on with her life, despite my misgivings. As reluctant as I am, I have to accept this. So should you."

Akane tightened her lips, "I suppose you're right dad, Nabiki…" She looked out the window to the trees, "Things have been going strange back home, Kuno and I have been going out a little. I just don't know what is normal any more…"

Nabiki thought back to all the instructions implanted in their minds when Ranma left.

"Whatever it is, aren't things better than before?" Avoiding certain key phrases and names was hard. _I'm not even sure I should mention Mount Phoenix, that itself may trigger a bad reaction._

"Yes, but you're gone…" Akane looked back at Nabiki, "Without you…"

"'Without me', what? You're doing fine, Kasumi is there also. Stop worrying and start living."

Akane turned sharply, "You're right, I…", She was about to say something else before stopping herself, "I'm going to find Ranko and bring her back here."

Dashing out before Nabiki could stop her, Soun smiled, "Looks like Akane's growing up finally."

"Yeah, that's right, Daddy."

"Now, let's have a look at the deeds while Akane brings back Ranko…"

Glancing out the window, Nabiki frowned.

**A minute later**

"Ranko!"

Akane yelled once she breached the trees. The dark was spreading faster as the sun was now just beyond the horizon, and the shade from the trees only made it worse.

A loud shout came from ahead, which brought her to her senses, leaping forwards, she was met with a rush of wind and scattered leaves.

"What the hell?" Bracing herself into the soft earth with her feet, she ran in further until she was met with a small clearing.

In the centre was a short redhead, huffing loud enough for Akane to hear.

"Ranko? Are you okay? I thought I heard you scream?"

Taking a few moments to turn around, she spoke, "Yeah, sorry, thought I saw a bear, but then I realised it's kind of rare to see them in these parts." She laughed to herself, putting her hand behind her head.

Akane took in the surroundings; a few trees were felled here, mostly stumps remaining. However the actual trees were still here, not having been taken away by loggers. The smell of slightly burning wood was in the air, as well as a large amount of sawdust.

"Ranko, this may sound like a stupid question, but did you knock down these trees yourself?"

Ranma swallowed carefully, "Umm, what are you talking about? How could anyone just punch a tree over? No one is that strong!" Shifting her foot carefully, she used her legs to hide an unmistakable fist impression in the bark of the tree lying on the ground behind her.

Feeling her heart beat harder, Ranma breathed out slowly once Akane nodded happily, "That's right, this isn't Nerima..." She walked up to the girl, "Ranko, I'm really sorry about back there."

Ranma was surprised at her genuine statement, "It's okay Akane, you don't know me and I don't know you. It's okay to ask questions like that if you don't know everything already."

"I know... But I said it wrong, and you got hurt because of that and everything related to it." She bowed her head, "I'm sorry."

Patting her short hair, Ranma smiled, "Akane, it's fine. I forgive you, for everything."

Tears began to well up, and Ranma didn't even notice until they fell across her cheeks.

"Huh... Why?" Wiping her eyes, Ranma didn't notice Akane come up and hug her.

"Sorry, Ranko... Nabiki is a good listener, I've been talking to her for many years... I'm sure she will be a good friend to you." Pulling back Akane gave her heart-warming smile, the one which always dazzled Ranma the scarce few times he saw it, "I've been depending on others to help me, but I think I need to do something for myself in future."

Holding Ranma's hand, she pulled her slightly, "Shall we go back to the house?"

"Y-Yeah..."

Allowing Akane to take the lead, they both walked and half-jogged back to the cottage.

Nabiki and her father were waiting outside, breathing the cool air.

"Ah, there they are."

Nabiki saw the contact between the two of them and smiled. _So, I guess Ranma finally got closure of some sort..._

Akane was shivering a little as they all went inside. Ranma saw this and returned from the bedroom to pull out a warm fleece to cover her with, which she was thankful for.

Afterwards, the conversation flowed naturally, Nabiki leading mainly about her new life, and Ranma describing her job too.

"You know, if those boys cause trouble, I'd be happy to teach you a few techniques to stop them from pestering you." Soun offered.

"I can help too, Shampoo is a waitress and does get some weird customers sometimes." Akane flexed her muscle in her arm.

"Akane, my dear sister, we want the customers to come back, not to leave with broken arms." Nabiki chided her jokily, which Soun chuckled at. Akane sat there and sulked for a moment.

"It's okay really." Ranma waved off their offers, "I have my own methods which are working well. Mostly just scaring them into not doing anything more." She started to grumble again.

"What's wrong, Ranko?" Akane asked.

"It seems that the same people are coming back though, it looks like what I do is attracting more guys to try things, just to get a reaction from me..." She grit her teeth, "I'm trying to not punch their faces in..."

Akane nodded, "Guys are strange, but you're only seeing the worst of them. If you can put up with them, then I'm sure that anything else will seem easy."

"True..." Ranma thought out loud.

Soun checked his watch, "Akane, it's time we were off to the hotel. We can't keep these two up late."

Ranma agreed sheepishly, "Yeah, I have the early morning shift. As it's Sunday I'm not working a full day."

Soun spoke, "Akane and I are going to the local council office to finalise some technical documents about this land. We don't need to see each other again, since I'm sure you're tired."

Nabiki was surprised, "Are you sure, I can accompany you if you want?" She looked at Akane, who shook her head.

"It's okay sis, take care of yourself and Ranko, you too." She waved as they left the house, "Keep in contact okay?"

"Will do, Kasumi knows how to get a hold of me." Nabiki waved back.

They walked to the nearest tiny road where a taxi was waiting for them, presumably Soun had prearranged a rendezvous. Ranma and Nabiki watched them drive off.

"Well, that was relatively painless." The latter spoke first.

"Yeah, relatively..." Ranma looked down before going to the kettle and pouring a small amount of warm water over her head.

"Still upset at what she said?" Nabiki came close behind him and rubbed his shoulders.

"No, not really..." He turned to face her, "She's doing much better now, and she's stronger without me there to drag her down. I'm happy for her."

"Idiot..." Nabiki poked him in the chest, "As the famous line doesn't go, it's not you, it's her. She followed your rules and wanted to become better, everything else happened naturally."

Ranma scratched his head, "I suppose... She really has changed though."

Nabiki pulled back slightly, "So you're thinking of getting back with her again?"

He shook his head immediately, "No, I know that she would get worse slowly. Perhaps because I was better than her at martial arts, or just because I had all the other girls around me."

Nabiki gave him a peck on the cheek, "Good boy. You're learning fast. One day you could be better than me!"

"Heh..." Ranma smirked to cover up his blush, "Well, there's plenty of time for that, it'll take a while."

"True..." She looked out the window, "Do you want to do a little more of that training? Learning the art again would help me as well."

"If you're up to it, no problem. We'll start with the easy things and work up." Ranma cracked his knuckles.

"No sparring yet, mister." She chided him, "Let me get back into the moves first before you start laying into me."

"Yes ma'am..." Ranma joked in reply as he opened the door to the chill, "Shall we?"

"We shall." Nabiki strode outside and sneezed the moment the wind hit her.

**Monday**

_So, daddy was true to his word, he didn't visit us again on Sunday. He and Akane went to the council alone and presumably sorted out their business there._

Sighing, she twiddled her pen in the class. Given that it was maths, she wasn't struggling at all and had already completed the exercises given to them.

_Work is closed today, end of the financial month apparently and they were doing an audit, so they didn't need the lesser employees around, just the bigwigs from the head office to tally up the figures._

The final bell went and the class got to their feet, happy to be rid of the first day of the week. Getting up also, Nabiki went to the front at her own pace to where Ranma was chatting to Yuko who had begun to hang around the two of them.

_I'm not surprised by this fact, most girls in our class were interested in this newcomer, Yuko seemed to either be the most interested, or the one who inadvertently stopped others from placing their claim. _

Nabiki saw girls from other classes whisper to themselves and glancing at Ranma.

_Looks like the rumours are spreading already about an attractive transfer student, perhaps there'll be more queries in the future._

"Hey Nabiki!" Ranma half-shouted, waving broadly, Yuko giving a polite wave of the hand at the same time.

"So, what are you two chatting about?" Nabiki asked, feigning interest.

"Nothing, just about this silly TV show, Ranma hasn't heard of it. What about you, Nabiki?" Yuko was excited for some reason.

"I don't pay much attention to TV, sorry." Nabiki left it at that.

_I don't want to go into details about how I don't even own one, and especially to avoid Yuko linking the two of us as sharing the lack of TV. She may think it odd and may eventually find out that we live together._

As they all left the school together, Nabiki continued thinking. _This can't be good, the school knows my original home address in Nerima and they have Ranma's 'former orphanage' too. What if they start to query our current residences? We'll have to confess at that time... I need to find out a way of either giving rational explanation as to why two unrelated teenagers are sleeping together in the same house. Or I'll have to find a fake apartment where I can stay, but then I'll need enough to afford rent -_

"Nabiki, are you okay, you look like you have a fever..." Yuko was staring at her face, noting the reddened forehead and sweat build-up from concentrating too much.

Nabiki calmed down, feeling her heart rate slow, and wiped away the sweat, "Yeah, maybe I am catching a cold..."

Ranma was staring at her, "Maybe you should sit down, you must be tired."

His concern was true, since they both trained for over thirty minutes the evening before, and Ranma knew it was cold even though his body was shielded from the elements.

She shrugged off their worries, "I'll be okay, let's go."

Yuko and Ranma spoke about the work at school, the latter not knowing most of what they talked about. Nabiki also chimed in with the answers if needed.

Yuko nodded and said goodbye as they reached a junction, turning left Nabiki and Ranma walked onwards.

As the skies darkened, they went to an area with fewer lampposts.

"You feeling okay, Nabiki?" Ranma asked, placing the back of his hand against her forehead.

"I'm fine, really, just worrying too much about senseless things for now."

"Then, don't worry about them until you need to, no point in thinking about them if there's no need to."

Nabiki looked at him, "Nice words of wisdom. I'll think about it."

Laughing quietly, Ranma got her joke and looked up at the nearby rooftop. "We'll do a few roof-hops from here. You don't mind hanging around the shops until my shift ends do you?"

"Not at all." _Having no work means I can't go home, not to that distance since a taxi would be a dent in our accounts._

"Okay, I'll catch you later." Ranma jogged off to his secret spot where he could change.

"So, let's have a look around then."

Taking her time, she started to look at the shops in the nearby streets, noting down the prices and was happy to see that though there were somewhat less variety of items, the prices were lower than those in Nerima. Jotting down some of the better value stores, she took a break on a bench.

_Not too bad, somehow there's a lot of decent places around selling local produce cheaper than home, and though the clothes are a little old fashioned, I found a few places that stock some of the newer trends._ Two shadows above her notepad made her pause. _Great, what now?_

"Hey there, girl." One man spoke up, "Interested in some karaoke? My friend and I are just hitting the local for a few quick songs."

"Sorry, no time for that." Nabiki got up quickly, only for the other man to touch her shoulder, but hard enough to remind her that he was strong.

"Hey now, my friend asked ya nicely, the least ya could do is be polite n' join us. We're not going to hurt ya."

_Yes, because saying you're not going to hurt me automatically qualifies you as someone who has done this before._

She looked him in the eyes, "Let go of me, now."

"Or what?" Another hand, belonging to the original man, draped over her other shoulder, clamping down harder.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you..." Nabiki repeated his words back at them.

Crouching sharply out of their clutches, their fingers unable to grip her uniform properly, she crossed her hands over her chest and slammed her fists backwards.

The two pained shouts were music to her ears, as she stood up and dusted her hands off.

"I didn't hit them too hard, but you should avoid thinking with your groin first, otherwise worse things will happen than bruising."

Walking off with her bag, she left the two men holding their precious jewels where they half-stood.

_I'd better not hang around here for now. I have to go to where Ranma is to wait until his shift ends, it's the safest plan._

Knowing where he worked, she went there directly and walked in the entrance.

"Welcome to -AAH!" Ranma was welcoming people into the café, and was startled at seeing her.

"Hello there, table for one please." Giving an evil smirk at the same time, "Make sure I get a good view of the café with all the delicious products on offer. Thank you."

Paling, Ranma smiled nervously, "C-Certainly madam, this way."

Walking to her seat, she pulled the menu closer to her, "Wh-What are you doing here, Nabiki?"

"Excuse me waitress, I'm still thinking of what to have. Please be patient."

"Ah, r-right!" Standing to attention, Ranma began to sweat slightly.

"I'll have a cup of black coffee, no sugar please." Nabiki gave her order, and Ranma nodded, writing it down on her pad before retreating to the area behind the counter.

"Is that customer giving you trouble?" The boss came out after seeing Ranma act uncharacteristically anxious, "We do get the odd woman in here, and they can be more subtle than the male clientele."

"No... She's just a schoolgirl. It's just surprising to see someone her age here."

"I suppose that's right." Seeing the order on the pad, the order was prepared and a tray provided. "Here you go., Ranma."

"Thanks." Walking carefully to Nabiki's table, she lowered her tray, "Your coffee, madam. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Nabiki reached out to the saucer and then briefly touched Ranma's hand, which was still resting on the table edge, "No, I'm fine. Just wanted to see a friendly face." She smiled at her, "Is it okay if I wait until your shift ends?"

Ranma's eyes widened, "Of course, it's not busy, if there's any problem, like a sudden rush, I'll let you know."

"Thanks, Ranma." Sipping her coffee, she smiled, "Mmm, it's warm."

Returning to her usual routine, Ranma began to escort the odd customer in and patrol the difficult tables, though no customers required her special attention. Nabiki watched the proceedings and how the few times he served at Shampoo restaurant helped with the way in which he served customers. There were naturally no problems with balancing the food on the tray.

Nabiki spotted how the customers generally leered at the other waitresses and even Ranma, though behind her back. Some were even cast in her own direction. _Just goes to show that I haven't lost it yet. _None of them were daring enough to accidentally brush against the thigh or hand of one of the girls.

After serving one last table, the boss nodded at Ranma, who sighed and then winked at Nabiki. Taking this to be the sign that her shift was over, Nabiki paid up, left a tip and walked out of the café.

Two minutes went by and she was joined by Ranma, still wearing the same outfit at school.

""You know," Nabiki cast an eye over her appearance, "we may need to get you a third set of clothes once you get the uniform, it would look very bad if someone noticed what you were wearing, then to see you weren't actually a student there."

"Huh, but I am." Ranma frowned.

"Yes, but not as a girl." Nabiki smiled as the light hit his eyes.

"Ah, now I get it." The redhead moved them away from the lights of the main streets, "We can start jumping now, you ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

Picking her up gently, Ranma launched upwards and tapped the roof tiles, before speeding forwards, leaping between the buildings and the tops of lampposts. People below couldn't see above the lights and could only hear the creaking of metal as Ranma used them to propel him forwards.

"So, what happened, you got bored of the shops?" Ranma asked to pass the time.

"Sort of..." Nabiki folded her arms and stared at Ranma's chin, "I stopped looking at the shops when two guys tried to chat me up."

She felt the arms holding her become tighter, "I ignored them, then they basically didn't want to take no as an answer, so I had no option but to advise them forcefully to back off."

"How forcefully?" Ranma spoke calmly.

"A punch to the groin. They got the message." Nabiki frowned, "Problem is, if they were even a little bit pushier, I would have gotten into more trouble."

"You escaped from the Yakuza a few times, no?"

"Yeah, I know, but I was constantly on the move. Now I'm more or less settled down here. I don't want them to catch up with me, so starting trouble here is not the best plan." She bit her lip.

"You'll just have to become stronger than them. That's the best solution." Ranma smirked, "You're good at throwing, and I'll bet your reactions and dodging is fast too. If we focus on those, then you should be up to speed in no time."

Chuckling at his unwitting pun, Nabiki smiled back, "I suppose I'll be getting more lessons then from the Master?"

"Not the Master, but me." Ranma had reached the trees and was now moving even quicker, leaping branches and using more power since no humans were around them.

Within minutes they were back at home. They had reached a routine. Nabiki would go to the oven and put new logs inside and pour water into the kettle on top of the cold metal hob. Ranma would pull out the Kinjakan from its hiding place and begin to use it to heat up the home within seconds almost and then directing some of that heat into the furnace for the logs to ignite.

As long as his ki was within reach of it, he didn't need to keep holding it for the wheel to burn up and produce heat. Sticking it upside down into the notch in the floorboards made it act as a hot fan of sorts. Without it the house would be permanently cold.

Nabiki was now more than happy to serve them tea as the kettle boiled. A simple meal again cooked on the hob satisfied the both of them. Ranma began tapping his foot to a beat which Nabiki recognised but couldn't quite place. _It's not a musical beat... _Guessing since it was familiar to her, she spoke.

"Practising your kata again?"

Pausing suddenly, Ranma coughed, "Y-Yeah, just playing out the moves in my head again, Pops always said that it did follow a rhythm. Punch followed by parry countered with knee then kick. It all depends on how your body chooses to move."

"It sounds like you're not even in control of yourself." Nabiki scoffed.

"If it's a normal spar, that's right, even with Ryoga fighting it felt like that. Everything was instinct and natural to me." Ranma thought about it more, "When I fight seriously, I force my body to move a different way. If they have a new move or technique, I need to learn its strength by taking it, then seeing where the weakness was when they did the move." He smiled, "Dodging and parrying isn't the only way to avoid attacks."

"Getting the first punch in helps too." Nabiki thrust out her fist, only to hear a massive boom.

The two of them froze.

"Ranma... I didn't just break the sound barrier, did I?"

"No, someone else did..." Ranma got up and walked to the front door, only to be faced with a huge animal. Nabiki was right behind him.

"A... A dragon?" Swallowing, she put up her fists, knowing it was useless for her, "Ranma, surely you can't beat this th-"

"What the hell are you doing?" Ranma started punching the stomach, though the dragon simply pushed away his fists with its wings, "Don't make a scene!"

Roaring it calmed down and shrunk in size to that of a Great Dane, walking by Ranma and brushing against Nabiki.

"What is this now, are you a trainer? A hunter?" Seeing the dragon lie on its back right in front of the Kinjakan, she could only look on agape, "Well, explain yourself...?"

Ranma let out a long breath and returned inside, "Fine..." Closing the door to the outside, he sat on the chair, "This is my Messenger. The same one one from Herb too, yeah?"

Pointing at it, Nabiki was incensed. "Yes, I did, but it never turned into anything like that size. I thought they were supposed to be subtle? Arriving past Mach 1 will get a lot of unwanted eyes pointed here."

"I do apologise, but Ranma did insist that I get here as fast as possible with his reports."

The succinct male voice cut through the both of them.

"Unless you're really good at ventriloquism, that dragon just spoke…" Nabiki whispered.

Groaning loudly, Ranma flapped his arms in the air, "Fine, fine. You want to know what happened?" He put his head in his hands before speaking again, "I tried something. Herb said it reads your ki to learn all the places you've been to, right?" Nabiki nodded, "Well I tried pushing my ki into it forcefully several weeks ago. It pushed back, but I pushed harder. Now it turned into that."

"Excuse me; it's not my fault you chose to break the rule." The dragon huffed, a lick of flame bursting from its nostrils.

"I know…" Ranma grumbled, "Now I'm left with you."

"So, wait a second, you're telling me that you knew this would happen?" Nabiki poked Ranma's arm, "I don't understand, what's wrong about it?"

"Nothing is wrong, Nabiki dear." The dragon sat up and walked over to her, "True, our original purpose was for messages to one another, but a second purpose, to spy and collect data, was easy to create."

"'Dear'?" She glared at the dragon, "Where did you learn to call me that? I don't recall giving you permission."

"Oh, I merely learned from Ranma himself."

"Don't put words into my mouth!" He stood up thumping his hands on the table, "He learned all my friends and also got a mind of its own now." He glanced at Nabiki, "He's much older than both of us."

"One of the lesser dragons from the Musk Dynasty, reduced to this level." The dragon bowed his head.

"So, what's your name then? Or do I keep calling you Dragon?"

"Human tongues cannot pronounce it, however you may call me Kiln." He looked at Ranma, "Do you want the report?"

"Yes, any news?" Ranma was interested now.

"Weather conditions normal, nothing strange happening like the previous occasion. Situation normal with the residents. Soun and Akane returned fine. No reversion of memories, aside from Kasumi, though she did not speak a word to anybody." Glancing at Nabiki, Kiln continued to speak, "She accepted a pigeon Messenger recently. I assume that is Ranko?"

"Yes, I send letters to and from my sister that way."

"I will now begin scanning Mount Phoenix like we discussed." Walking to the door, Nabiki spoke up.

"Hold on, why Mount Phoenix?" She looked at Ranma, "What's wrong there?"

"Nothing, I still have the Kinjakan, I don't want them beginning to build up forces to come and take it back for that guy again." He nodded at Kiln, "That's fine, keep out of reach though, they like to fly a lot there, so be subtle."

"Naturally," Kiln widened his jaw, yawning, "I will also pay a visit to Herb to advise him of the status here too."

As Nabiki opened the door for him, she spotted him flapping the wings flying higher into the sky, before streaked fast in the sky, a slight red trail behind him.

"Sometimes, I think I will never get used to this…" Shaking her head, she returned indoors.

"Sorry, Nabiki, I didn't let you know about him."

"It's okay, I'm just surprised as usual." She patted him on the shoulder, "It's just funny how you still attract the strange things in life, even now."

"Sorry, I guess…" He shrugged, "Stuff like that follows me about."

"So, enough about that, shall we train?" Nabiki opened the back door, "If I'm going to learn martial arts again, I need to learn every day, without fail." She bowed her head lightly, "Is that okay, sensei?"

Ranma smiled broadly, "Yeah, of course. We'll practise until you start to feel the strain in your muscles. That way you won't be pushed too much."

"You're the boss, Ranma." Nabiki strolled outside with Ranma in tow.

He stretched his arms behind him, "Let's begin warming up first, then follow my instructions."

Smirking in return, Nabiki nodded.

**Author's Notes**

A lot more interaction between Nabiki and Ranma this time. Surprisingly the Jusenkyo curse didn't force itself to the surface when Akane and Soun were there.

Till the next update!

J


	5. Ignition

**In my Arms, In my Heart**

**Chapter 5**

**Ignition**

**The next day**

Nabiki sighed out loud as she quickly scanned over the work in her class.

_Man, this is so boring… _

Quickly marking off the right answers and then reading on the next section, she wrote the answer down and extrapolated the necessary information before writing the conclusion.

She paused as her arm began to twitch and throb. Stopping her movements, she breathed in and out slowly, closing her eyes calmly.

_Damn, it still stings a bit…_

The slight tremble in her right arm reduced as she opened her hand up and then clenched the fingers tight into a ball.

_Ranma really pushed me last night. Even though my muscles were burning, he kept me moving. It's surprising though…_

Sensing that something was up, Ranma angled his head sideways to check on her, furrowing his brow.

_Whoops, I forgot that he's sensitive to changes in ki; I guess I'm doing something strange from his perspective._

Relaxing her fingers, she gave a light wave to him and smiled kindly. Arching an eyebrow in response, Ranma watched her for a little bit longer before returning his attention to the teacher.

Nabiki looked down at her paper, before thinking back again.

_I suppose it is my fault, I should have told him how I felt. _Reminding herself of the two men who tried to chat her up that evening, she gripped the writing implement tighter. _What if they come back? What if That Man finds me again? I'll have no chance; I have to become stronger, even if it means hurting myself…_

The bell went for the end of the lesson and the beginning of lunch.

_Well, there's no point in dwelling on it any longer, I'd better eat for now and try to massage my arms when I get the chance._

"Yo, Nabiki, got a moment?"

Frowning, she looked at Ranma, his face oddly serious, "Y-Yeah, I've got my lunch, you?"

"Same here." Walking out into the corridor together before nodding at the staircase, "The roof."

Understanding the message, they both walked silently there, avoiding the rush to people heading outside or to the cafeteria to grab some bread. Going against the flow was easier now, Nabiki naturally moved into spots vacated by people only a second earlier, and they both reached the stairs, walking up quietly.

Soon, they were leaning again the fence at the edge of the school roof, giving the people beneath them a simple view of their backs pressed against the chain-links.

Nabiki began to eat as did Ranma, before he stopped after a few bites.

"Something on your mind, Saotome?" Nabiki knew this wasn't a simple request to eat together.

"'Saotome'?" Ranma bristled, his tone a little grouchy, "What's with you, Nabiki? No need to be so formal."

"But I have to be." She deadpanned back, "You brought me here for a good reason, important enough for us to be alone. I'd like to hear it."

Ranma scoffed a bit more of his food before letting out a long breath, placing her borrowed Tupperware on the ground.

"Nabiki…" His eyes really blue when the sun was out, and his eyebrows were scrunched up, "why are you in so much pain?"

"Pain?" This was surprising to her, "I'm not in pain, Ranma."

He shook his head, "You are, or at least your body is."

He shot his hand out and lightly held her right wrist, displaying it to her. It was still trembling from earlier.

"What happened to you? I can tell you've been pushing yourself in training, but this is too much…" He lowered her hand but kept his palm over hers, "Training when you're injured doesn't help anyone."

Nabiki bit her lower lip now. _What is he talking about? I can't feel any pain… Yes, my hand is shaking, but I can stop it… _

"This is a sign that you're doing too much, too fast, at the moment." He glanced behind him to the school yard beneath them, "Back in class, your ki spiked. Usually this is a good thing, when your power is growing and you need to let out an attack of some sort." He closed his hand around hers, "This time though, your own body was attacking itself, to fight back this muscle strain."

_Oh God… _

"Perhaps you can't feel it, but your nerves must be firing up like crazy inside you..."

As his voice faded in and out, lost in her thoughts, Nabiki noticed something which had been bothering her the last few weeks.

"Then again, it could be some other pain I don't know about…"

Returning to Nerima, getting that one, ridiculous hint from Gosunkugi. Devoting her time to travelling north, all to find a single missing person who wanted to be forgotten. Scouring neighbourhoods, underground dens, shadowy alleys, all for a clue, one tiny trail to the figure known as Ranma.

Then that night came about, just before she heard of a great fighter in some tournament.

The same evening when she first came across the grinning Anji.

"-biki… Nabiki!"

Feeling her arm being shaken, she started quickly, "Wh-What? What is it, Ranma?"

"You okay? You kinda spaced out a bit there…" His concern was apparent on his face, even more so than before.

"I… I'm fine…" Pushing off his hold on her, she pulled away and ate more of her food.

After several bites, with total silence between them, she felt a drip on her chest, closely followed by another, and another.

"Hah… Hahaha…" Her unhinged chuckle made Ranma draw in closer, his eyes much wider now and his arms waving frantically, now truly fearful for her.

"N-Nabiki… You're crying?"

"Hah…" Turning her confused and tear-stained face at him, she spoke, "H-Help me, Ranma…"

He wasted no time.

Abandoning his lunch, he picked up Nabiki and ran downstairs to the nurse's office, ignoring all the stunned faces of the other pupils.

The nurse was in thankfully, and Ranma explained Nabiki needed medical attention.

Seeing the semi-delirious state Nabiki was in, the nurse nodded immediately and placed Nabiki on a bed. Ranma ran out to grab their bags and returned to the room, when the nurse did the same, along with her car keys. After first speaking to a teacher on the way out, she joined Ranma still carrying Nabiki in the parking lot of the school.

Within minutes, she had driven them to the local hospital, as she knew this wasn't just another case of anaemia or a cold.

She was rather shocked when Ranma told her she could leave them now.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'll stay with her; you can go back to the school. The others may need you there." Ranma answered as Nabiki was taken away on a stretcher, tracing the way the doctors were speaking to each other with words he didn't quite understand.

"Here…" She handed Ranma her card, which did show she was a qualified nurse also, "Let me know of her progress. If you need to stay home tomorrow as well, call me and I'll inform the teachers."

"I'll try…" Ranma remembered how the home didn't have a landline yet, as he accepted the card.

Looking at the room Nabiki went into, the nurse turned back to Ranma and gave a sad smile before leaving, giving him a polite bow.

Once she was gone, Ranma strode into the room Nabiki was in, her laughs still pitiful as she was hooked up to a heart monitor. He could see how hard they were working on her, trying to care for something which wasn't patently obvious on the outside.

"Are you a family member?" One of the doctors came to him.

"Not quite, I'm her roommate." He looked to Nabiki, crying without a care in the world, "What's wrong with her?"

"We're not certain…" He pulled me away from her to get in a corner to speak privately, "She appears to be having a mental breakdown of sorts, mumbling incoherently and being completely non-resistant to any stimuli. She's not answering any of our questions either. Do you know if she is under any medication at all?"

Ranma thought back and recalled one, "She says she gets migraines a lot and has been taking pills. She says it was for over a month."

"A month?" He scratched his head, "You only need to take these pills for three days at most. Do you know what they are?"

Ranma was still carrying both school bags and rummaged inside hers quickly. Forgetting the aspect of personal privacy given the situation, he found two packets of pills, one already empty and the other half used.

Showing the doctor, his eyes grew larger as he wrote it on a notepad. Shouting some requests for the others, an IV was brought in with fluids added to it.

"We may need to do some blood work, taking this much medication, especially for so long and without a prescription can lead to side-effects." He was writing a list do as the nurses withdrew blood from Nabiki's inner elbow.

"Can I stay with her?" Ranma asked, staring at her tearful face.

"Of course, she's not in any danger at present. It would help to have someone she knows nearby." Bringing a chair over, Ranma sat down next to her, "We're going to do some tests now, but in the meantime she needs plenty of rest. Tendo-san will need to stay here for one night just for us to be certain she is alright."

"Thanks, I'll make sure she sleeps for a bit."

The doctor nodded and left the room along with the nurses, leaving them to the rhythmic beat of Nabiki's EKG in the background.

Her little giggles came lighter now and barely audible. Reaching out, Ranma felt for her hand, which was now unresisting to any contact.

Her laughs stopped as her fingers moved gently against Ranma's palm.

"Oh, Ranma… What's wrong with me…?"

Staring at the ceiling, her tears continued to stream down the side of her face as she pulled up her other hand to cover her face.

"You must think I'm insane, crying for no reason at all."

"No, I don't." He was speaking quietly, "There are loads of reasons for you to cry. It's nothing to ashamed of."

"I… I remembered the first time caught wind of you. What I had to give away for more information about you." She swallowed hard, it looked difficult for her, "But I still went after you, even when he began to track me down."

The pigtailed teenager nodded sagely, "I think I get it now." He used his other hand to rest on his lap, "Let's compare for a moment, I escaped from Nerima; it's been a long time now for me. The funny thing is I've always been used to moving around, hiding and not staying in some place for too long. Pops took me training for so long…" He stopped and looked at her head, "But you were just a normal girl, you weren't travelling everywhere, training day in day out, you went to school every day, did your homework, and you lived in a real home."

He ridiculed her lightly, "Sorry to say this, Nabiki, but what you did and are doing now, not many people can do, all those months looking for me, going to China and back and now living here. Maybe all of that is finally catching up to you." Raising her arm up, she saw Ranma giving her a tight smile, with his eyes having lost some of that spark inside of them. She realised that he was giving his honest opinion, again.

"Ranma…" She let out a long breath and lowered her arm to the side, "You have no id-" She interrupted herself and shook her head, "No, you do have an idea, and you've been through it already…" Her eyes watered up as she flicked her gaze onto his, "How do you cope with it?"

He grinned happily this time, and her EKG beeped faster for a few seconds, "I finally accepted what I was doing, no matter how hard it was, and I believe that I am right." He nodded again, thumping his chest with his fist over his heart, "I can move on now. Yeah, I may get sad from time-to-time. You know, I do miss it a little, sparring with Ryoga, talking with Akane – when I'm not saying anything stupid mind – and just living around there." The grin fell a bit, "Then, I remember the reality, with all the problems back then, and then I feel better." He arched an eyebrow, "Maybe you're not sure if this was the right choice for you. You had a good life there. You also weren't engaged to random boys… were you?" His brow wrinkled again.

Nabiki chuckled, this time in response to Ranma, "No, daddy didn't spring that on me ever. The only person who was introduced as a fiancée was you." Holding his hand firmly, feeling the warmth from him, she nodded as some tears broke free and fell over her cheeks, "Perhaps, you're right… That incense possessed me to track you down. I left everything behind, everyone I knew, to find this shadow of you." Her pupils were trembling, "I'm scared, Ranma… I left it all behind… Why?"

He closed his eyes and his smile melted away, "Don't think about that right now. The doctor says you need to rest, just lay back and sleep, okay?" Ranma moved his chair closer so he was near her head, "I'm not going anywhere, so don't worry for the time being." He placed a hand over her damp forehead, her sweat being smoothed away by his skin.

"Ranma…" Nabiki started to breathe deeper, feeling her panic dissipate, "You promise?"

"On my honour."

He beamed again and felt for her ki through his palm, the small pulsating purple tinge was erratic in its movements, reflecting the emotional status of the user. Allowing it to mingle with his own, he let some of his own ki leak into the well of purple, not to overpower it, but to give it the opportunity to take what it needed.

Nabiki's eyelids fluttered open again, sensing something was going on and weakly gazed at Ranma. His smile hadn't left yet, which was then reflected in her visage.

He was glad to see now that the purple was pulling away his blue ki to be absorbed into the mass. Like diluting paint in a cup of already stained water, the colour barely changed, but what was happening inside it is what mattered.

It wasn't taking his strength, at least not at this level, but his confidence and pride, the emotions that made up the majority of his spirit. By dropping it in the miasma of uncertainty, confusion and pride of a different nature, Ranma was hoping that it would make a small difference to her.

Soon, Nabiki's vision flickered downwards, and her body was letting go of the built up tension built up.

_He's helping me to rest now…_

As the repetitive sound of her heart monitor beeped in the room, she began to drift off to a moment of complete calmness.

"Thank you, Ranma…"

A second later, she was asleep, her ki indicating this by slowing immediately and flowing over her like a tiny stream. Keeping his hand on her forehead, Ranma watched as the confusion disappeared into deeper levels of her ki, further into her subconscious which even he couldn't reach, and let go of her head.

"You're welcome, Nabiki."

He watched her body carefully, the miniscule layer of ki around her was a thin oily film now, totally unmoving. Only masters in the art could detect it, people like his father, Happosai, the old ghoul too, and possibly even Ryoga.

Biting his lower lip, Ranma shook his head before speaking to himself, "I knew this would happen somehow… Why would you suddenly want to live with me? It made no sense to a clever girl like you." His smirk was contrasted with his downward faraway look in his eyes, "You could have just found me, and then gone home, satisfied…" He snorted, "Looks like the effect of incense spell truly wore off. Now you can go home and be happy back with your family."

Leaning back in his chair, Ranma looked up at the ceiling and closed his eyes, "So, I'm going to be alone again." His sardonic twist of his lips curled downwards into mild disgust. "It figures really, my life is nature's plaything, there to be messed with forever."

With his eyes closed, he missed the subtle change in the ki pattern around Nabiki, so slight that unless he was looking at her he wouldn't have noticed it. A small ripple starting from one droplet pulsed through her well and pushed through to the deeper level.

Unbeknownst to Ranma, Nabiki shed a tear in the midst of her sleep.

**Next morning**

Nabiki was unmoving, happy to simply look at nothing in particular as Ranma sat next to her, tapping his foot impatiently. The blanket he was using to keep himself warm as he slept was folded neatly on a nearby counter.

"Where's the doctor?" He almost spat out.

"Tests take time, give him some." Nabiki replied smoothly. "You know why they kept me overnight, just as a precaution."

_I'm not sure if they're putting some drugs in this IV, but I'm feeling really mellow today… _The dripping of the bag above her was an odd sight to see. _Of course, they kept me for observation purposes. There may even have been talk of a possible suicide risk. I can understand why of course. I was a wreck yesterday._

The loud rattle of the door knob startled Ranma, but not Nabiki. The doctor entered and was holding a series of pages, reading through them carefully.

"Tendo-san" He addressed her directly, "I'd like to have a word with you in private, if possible." He glanced at Ranma and he got the hint, standing up quickly.

Nabiki winked at him and smiled, giving Ranma a semblance of hope through a little smile as he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Once he was gone, the doctor sat next to her.

"Tendo-san, I need you to be honest with me. How long have you been taking these?" He showed her a packet of pills, the same as in her bag.

_Damn… _Unable to hide the grimace from her face, she sniffed loudly, "I can't say exactly, but at least for three months."

"Three months…" He groaned, "Do you realise how much danger you have putting herself in?" She neglected to reply, "This is a powerful painkiller, but has some unfortunately side-effects which are now manifesting inside you." He turned a page, "Have you been under some stress lately?"

Nabiki just stared at him, her face more neutral than Switzerland.

"You could say that…" She stated succinctly, "I've been under the most intense stress in my life for over the last four months ever since I decided to leave home for no reason, travelling the woods and mountains of China, the seas between there and Japan, more traipsing through the wilderness of this country itself, nearly getting myself killed and scarred for life a few times, pissing off a Yakuza group, and then finally ending up here of all places far from my family and the life I knew."

Having dispassionately stated her previous sentence without taking a single moment to take in air, the doctor could do nothing but look at her, his jaw a little looser than before. Collecting himself, he adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose.

"I see. That is a lot for a high school girl to be going through." He scribbled something on the paper, "We have been giving a dose of a certain anti-inflammatory drug, as you have been developing a stomach ulcer, which can cause crippling pain, not to mention further complications, if left untreated." He pulled off a prescription slip, "You will need to take it for the next two weeks to calm the inner lining to not let it spread and get any worse." He also pulled out a card and handed it to her, "Also, please call my colleague, he will be able to help you further."

"What, more drugs?" Nabiki tutted, despite holding back her displeasure.

"No, he is a good friend of mine. I believe he will help you get through these moments you are experiencing, and to talk about what happened these last few months."

After glancing at the card, Nabiki narrowed her eyes. _A psychologist? Really, is that what you think I need right now?_

Almost letting go of it, she was scathing in her response, "I'm not mad, doctor. Sure I know my story sounds fantastic, but it's all true."

He smiled good-naturedly at her, "I don't think you're mad Tendo-san. Mad people generally don't maintain a cohesive front and are rational in their speech." His face changed to a stern image, "However, I do feel that there are a lot of problems you are holding back from yourself, and this will affect you negatively if you do not deal with them sooner rather than later."

Pocketing the card, Nabiki thinned her lips, "I'll think about it."

The doctor smiled again, "That's good to hear." He stood up and opened the door, beckoning someone in, upon which Ranma entered, "After you fill out a few forms, you can leave for today. I'll issue a note which you can pass to your school."

"Thank you, doctor." _Well, I guess I am grateful, truthfully._

"Aside from that prescription, I recommend plenty of rest for you." He nodded at her as he left them to their own devices.

Ranma walked over to Nabiki as she sat up. Helping her maintain her balance, he brought her shoes closer to her feet.

"Need any help?" He asked, eager to provide some form of assistance.

"Sure, my body's a bit lethargic; could you just slip them on for me, Ranma?"

Doing so in seconds, it felt weird after a day of not being on her feet, and pins and needles sprung up her legs.

"Oww…" She winced.

"Here…" Ranma massaged her ankles in circular motions, helping get rid of the pain by encouraging the blood flow, with a little help from his ki too. Her expression ironed itself out, "Better?"

"Much." Nabiki smiled and put a hand on his shoulder, "Thanks."

Standing up unsteadily at first, she stood on her tiptoes and stretched, making Ranma chuckle.

"Well, you look like you slept for a week." He grinned.

The Tendo girl agreed, "Yeah, I've been having problems sleeping. Being here has given me more rest than I've had in a long time." Cracking her knuckles, she felt more awake, "I'm more awake than ever. I feel I can do anything now."

Ranma shrugged, "Give it some time, the doctor said you still need rest, so no training for you until you get better fully, okay?"

"Fine, sensei…" Sulking, Nabiki pulled out her lower lip much further in a pout, eliciting a smirk from her roommate.

"That's not gonna work on me any more." He held out his hand, "Shall we?"

Taking his hand as she walked a few steps, she let go once she had a good pace going, her body now functioning normally.

"Let's get out of here." She nodded hungrily.

Striding out first, she went straight to the nurses office to fill out the forms as requested, whilst Ranma waited outside, his eyebrows tense, drumming his fingers on his folded arm. As he grit his teeth, crushing them together and feeling the pressure in his skull, he heard Nabiki's cheerful voice filter out from the doorway. Closing his eyes to focus and reach a tranquil state, he plastered a smile on his face as she exited.

"Time for us to depart, Ranma."

Nodding, he followed her outside to the main arrival area. Walking side-by-side, they knew where they were headed. Once they had reached a suitably quiet and secluded alley, Ranma checked the rooftops to see if they were good enough for starters.

"May I?" He lightly bowed jokily at Nabiki, who in turn held out her hand to him like a princess would.

"You may indeed." She giggled like a – albeit younger – schoolgirl, "Take me home."

Clutching her hand, he could feel her cold fingers from the hospital, the smell of the chemicals ingrained in the skin.

Accidentally letting his breath run over her fingers, Nabiki's spine quivered as tendrils of chills passed up and outwards. _Umm, wow, didn't expect that reaction... I must be more sensitive now. Maybe those pills really did numb my body somehow..._

Scooping her up in his arms, Ranma bounced off the walls until he was on top of the roof now, staring into the distance. Gauging the distance, he held her closer before leaping across the road at a high speed, then simply hopping onto each nearby flat, house or business to their home.

His steps were measured and silent, since no one was used to overpowered individuals here. He also made sure to keep Nabiki comfortable, keeping most of the impact from each landing into his feet and legs.

Nabiki always kept her eyes open when viewing the scenery fly by. Glancing up at his face, she winced.

_Why does he look so... upset?_

It was as she said; his face while mildly concentrating on his daily task of super human leaps, which were second nature to him, there was a hint of anger in his eyes from their narrowed state, and a slightly bared mouth, showing his grinding teeth.

Nabiki could only ponder this further as they neared their home, and had no idea on how to speak to him about whatever made him this way.

Depositing her at the front door, Ranma pointed at the bedroom, "The doctor wants you to rest, so I think you should lie down, for your own sake."

"What are you going to do?" She put her arms on her hips, her mild frustration evident. _What gives him the right to just order me that way?_

He merely shrugged, "I'm not tired now, so I'll just practise a few kata here, and maybe in the woods for the ki based ones too."

"Well, how about I watch you practise then?" She folded her arms and tapped her foot impatiently on the grass, "Am I allowed to do that at least?"

Ranma half-glared at her, "If you want, but I doubt you'd be able to keep up with the movement. I'm going to work at full speed."

Nabiki stepped back, flinching from the fury in his stare. _Wh-what's with him? He's angry at me?_

"F-Fine, I'm going to see how much you've improved." She ran her hand through her bangs and chortled, "Nothing you can do to stop me anyway." She smirked back at him victoriously. _Go on, beat that Saotome!_

Ranma's mood and leaking ki vanished as he grimaced back at her, lacking any of the witty retorts he had learnt from previous exchanges, or even his classic insults.

"Yeah..." He walked around the home slowly, his gait methodical but barely lifting his feet off the ground, "Nothing I can do..."

Nabiki stood there stunned.

_Why is he acting this way? I haven't seen him like this before!_

Too shocked to call after him, she merely copied him by going to the back as well. Going inside for a moment, she brought out a chair and sat there, as Ranma began his kata.

_He wasn't kidding. I can't see how many punches he made then. Wait, did he also do a kick? That's impressive! Lots of strength too, he's leaving his footprints in the grass, and a trail too when doing the forward lunges and slides._

Though his attacks were fast, his face and torso were mostly in the same region, so she could see his expressions.

_It hasn't changed. He still preoccupied with something else, eating away at him. He seems mad, at me probably?_

Thinking back, Nabiki was trying to puzzle over everything that happened in the past two days.

_No use... All I get is a blank... It's fuzzy since that time on the school roof. _Holding her head, wincing again from trying to concentrate too hard, her skull began to throb. _Okay, that's enough of that._

Ranma had thrown a punch and saw Nabiki massaging her temple. Feeling the sweat run off his forehead, he walked over to her.

"Are you okay? Do you want some water?"

"Yeah..." She stood up, "I think I need to drink something..."

"Here, let me help..." Ranma supported her as they went inside together. Leading her to the chair, he poured a glass from the tap and placed it in front of her.

"You seem to be all worked up, you know..." She said after a few swigs, "I guess you need some real opponents like Ryoga to keep you on your toes."

"Maybe, but I also need to focus on improving myself by pretending I'm fighting at full power." The sarcastic grin returned, "Given that I'm here, this is probably the only way to know if my skills are getting rusty."

_Good, it looks like he talking to me again._

Nabiki leaned on table while talking, "What did the school say when you called them?"

"Nothing much, just for you to come to school only if you feel up to it. They let me have the day off too..." He frowned, "We may need to explain a few things to the guys in our class. Some people saw me rushing down with you."

She hardened her features, "There are ways to stop the gossip. The simplest method is usually the best, no need to get all elaborate."

He raised his eyebrow, "Go on, let me know what to say."

"Nothing special, just the facts about what happened. You saw me crying upstairs and I wouldn't stop. You got worried and took me to the nurse, who then took us to the hospital. You stayed with me because we're friends." Nabiki picked up her glass and rank some more, "That's it; the nurse would easily back us up if any teachers asked questions, or if any pupils overheard her."

"Friends, huh?" Ranma looked down at his fidgeting hands.

"Yes, friends." Nabiki paused, "We are friends, aren't we?"

Ranma smiled, though nervously, "If you want to be, yeah."

Nabiki frowned, "Look, I don't know what's up with you Ranma, but just so you know, we will always be friends, no matter what, okay?"

He coughed slightly, "Y-Yeah, I get it..." He shivered and looked to the bedroom, "I'm going to bring out the Kinjakan, seeing as it's getting colder now."

Watching him leave, Nabiki was trying to understand what just happened.

_Ranma, why won't you tell me what's going on? What have I done to upset you so much?_

Returning with the Phoenix weapon, the ring glowed red as the room was bathed in a refreshing warm breeze, making the home cosy for two teenagers.

_I'll ask him later. I need to catch up on some homework. Or perhaps make some dinner._

**Next day  
Maid café  
6:55pm**

Ranma handed another tray over to some new clients, who were young boys, and were blushing bright red when she leant over to lower the tray.

Smiling to herself in the knowledge that she can still get that response, she was glad that they were some of those polite customers, who simply wanted to see the waitresses, but was too embarrassed when any of them got near to them.

Most of them ogled the girls as they walked by, their leers downright creepy. Regardless, as the old saying goes, 'look, but don't touch'.

Thankfully, there hadn't been any touching that day. Ranma was not in a good mood.

Explaining his desperate running in the corridors of the school with a wrecked Nabiki to several people, even to the homeroom teacher privately, did take a bit out of him. Thankfully, everyone was understanding, and most were asking Nabiki if she was okay.

He however suddenly had a few more admiring looks directed his way from the female half of the school, and more glares from the male side, both of them unwarranted and unwanted. The implications were obvious, more girls hanging off him, and more men trying to pummel his face in, not that they'd stand a chance of it in a lifetime. Nevertheless, not something he'd like to deal with on a daily basis from either gender.

Yes, he was not happy.

"Thanks, Ranma, you can finish up for tonight now." Sakata spoke to her as she went behind the counter.

"No worries, I'll see you again tomorrow." Happy to be free of work, she went into the changing rooms to leave her uniform and left via the emergency exit at the back, reserved for the staff so they didn't need to walk through the café itself.

As the exit was at the side of the building, it was only twenty metres to the main road which the café faced, a relatively safe distance to walk.

Though not tonight.

"Finally, you're out..." A boy appeared from the side with three others behind him.

"You..." Ranma though back and recalled the incident, the first time she was touched in the café. She smirked, "What do you want now, a repeat performance with that can? I can replace the can with your face though if you wish…"

The boy didn't take the bait, laughing instead, "How's about I introduce you to my father's colleague instead?"

A large brutish hand clamped itself down onto Ranma's shoulder. It wasn't holding her tightly, but the sheer weight of the hand had the threat implied.

"So, you're too afraid of a little girl that you have to sic your daddy's friends to do it for you?" Oh yes, she was going to enjoy this, her dangerous grin revealing her lack of fear.

"Y-You just need to be taught a lesson!" The boy was nervous now, taking a single step back before looking above Ranma's head, "Don't hurt her face, just focus on the body, she still needs to work there don't forget."

The hand now dug its fingers in Ranma's skin further, supposedly pinching a nerve, but she was used to such attacks anyway, so it didn't affect her as much.

"Sorry lady, it's nothing personal, just doing the boss's bidding." He did have a tone of regret in his voice, which made Ranma wonder out loud.

"So, you're the bodyguard for this guy here? Is it fun beating up on little girls who don't play with him?" Her taunts didn't get the result she expected.

"No, he called me here today for this reason. His father is my boss. Anyway..." Another hand grabbed the left shoulder hard, "That's enough talking, and I'm sorry." He sighed tiredly.

"Don't be, I hope you have good insurance though..." She raised her right arm and looped her fingers into his right palm, "This may hurt you a little."

Twisting her wrist upwards, she peeled off the meaty hand from her small shoulder like ripping the skin off an orange. Feeling the resistance behind her joints, she grinned.

"Wow, good strength there, you must've been a bodybuilder at one point."

Blurring to the right, allowing his other hand to simply fall to the ground after grasping at air, Ranma finally took a good look at the burly man.

Taller than Ranma by at least three heads and larger overall in muscle mass, wearing a dark suit and even sunglasses despite the encroaching night. The bald head gave the impression that it was her father, had he taken a year's worth of steroids. His eyebrows were high up, as his hand quivered and juddered involuntarily.

"Okay, that's strange." He cracked his knuckles and took a boxing stance, "You're not just a normal girl are you?"

Ranma folded her arms, her arrogant grin in full blast now, "Hell no, I'm an expert in martial arts." Dropping into an offensive stance, she beckoned him, "Care for a spar?"

"If you don't mind getting hurt…" He waited for her response.

"Right back at ya." She nodded and he lunged forwards.

His right hook was easily dodged, though Ranma noted how it ploughed straight through a drainpipe and then crashed through the wall of an abandoned shop without any discernible cry of pain from the man.

Still crouched, she pushed up and kicked at his chest ten times, before throwing three punches into his chin, trying to stun him quickly.

Taking one step back, he shook his head violently from side to side, trying to clear the stars around his head.

"Wow, you're pretty tough, most people would just fall over flat after taking that." Jumping back to give him room, Ranma nodded in respect to him.

"Yeah, you're a tough hitter for someone as short as you." He grinned, and Ranma noted that two teeth were missing, presumably from a previous encounter, "Ladies first."

"Don't mind if I do!"

Taking the invitation, Ranma sped in and began pounding on the bodyguard, striking his arms and legs at the joints and also focusing on the muscles themselves to make them sore.

He was no slouch though, and did attempt to block the movements she made and to try to hit her, despite missing each time due to last minute escapes by veering and weaving her body away from his fists and feet.

Realising both of them were smiling at the fight, they began to have at each other, testing the defences and offensive measures. Ranma quickly figured out that his opponent was trained in various forms, but not to her level, and definitely not a real threat, even despite his obvious power.

She decided to end it here, leaping backwards and charging up her ki just a little bit. The man stopped as well and then took on a different pose, one which she recognised to be a form of kenpo.

Charging in at each other, the taller of the two started with a double punch and kick combo, only to see that once again Ranma had parried each of the blows before skipping to one side of the alley. Rebounding off the wall to the opposite side, she found the perfect surface and launched herself directly at him, before diving to ground to avoid his haymaker, then skidding on the ground to move straight into sending a horizontal ki-filled punch directed at his stomach.

The guard flew backwards and crashed against a wall of dustbins and rubbish bags, the sound of squelching and rustling another signal he landed there, though not entirely comfortably. Groaning loudly, he tried to get his footing only to slip on the mess, half lying with his back to the bins.

"Sorry about that, it was burnable rubbish, so it shouldn't hurt so much…" Walking up to him, she grinned and held out a hand, "Here, sorry about your suit."

Bemused, his eyes now visible as his sunglasses was askew, he accepted her hand, only to find himself righted immediately from her pull.

"Aah…" Ranma turned around and arched her arms over and behind and her head stretching fully, "That was a great spar, I'm satisfied now."

Growling to himself, the guard clenched his fist and aimed straight for her head, not holding back his power.

Yet, the punch stopped moving forwards two centimetres from Ranma, without any intervention from her. Chuckling to herself, she spun around to face him.

"Why didn't you dodge or block it?" He asked falteringly, his arm still extended.

Ranma stood with a hand to her chin, resting on the folded arm beneath it, a looking up at the sky, "It was obvious really. There was no malice or intent in your punch, you were testing me."

Removing her hand from her face, she brought it closer to his fist, pushing a tiny bit of ki in it, and flicked her index finger at him, striking the middle finger of his own hand.

The arm flew up and back, only saved from being dislocated by the man grabbing his arm with his other. A bruise began to grow on that finger.

"Ahh…" Ranma grinned sheepishly, "Sorry, it may be broken, you'll need to have it looked at." Glancing at the sky and gauging the time, she began to panic, "Ah crap! I'm late…" She looked to him and then at the terrified boys behind her, "Is it okay if we spar another time?"

"… Yeah…" Holding his hand gingerly, the bodyguard nodded, "I've done as much as I can today. Go on, I'll let the boss know what happened today. No one's going to bother you again." He glanced at the boys and snarled louder, making them shift backwards.

"Thanks!" Ranma waved at him and dashed towards the exit, smirked widely at the group as she sped through them, before disappearing around the corner.

"What the hell?" The pale boy strode up to the bodyguard, "You didn't even get a hand on her. Weakling!"

Leaning over to peer at his eyes, the tall man was not amused, "If I fought her seriously, I'd be dead. She could kill you in a second too." Standing up again, he walked out to the main road, "I don't report to you, remember that, this was only a one-time favour." He glanced back, "I'm going to have a word with your father about this incident."

Walking away, he didn't catch the boy's whimpers.

Pulling out a mobile phone, and dialling a memorised number, he spoke, "Hi boss, sorry to bother you. Just to let you know that job is over, but this girl was interesting. I couldn't hit her once." He paused as a deep voice spoke on the other end before he continued, "That's right, and no I didn't." More speaking from the other caller, "Okay. Yes, I understand. Have a good evening, boss."

Closing the phone away and returning it to his jacket, he walked off, only glancing back to where Ranma ran off to and smiling.

**Author's Notes**

Poor Nabiki, I'm surprised no readers have questioned why she chose to stay there despite everything.

Still, this chapter should clarify a few things, and shift others about as Ranma begins to question everything from the beginning.

Till the next chapter.

J


	6. The Next Step

**In my Arms, In my Heart**

**Chapter 6**

**The Next Step**

**The next day  
School**

Walking into the main entrance of the school, Nabiki could see the jealous stares from the girls directed at her, seeing as Ranma was beside her trying not to be noticed by the same women.

_Looks like the populace is riled up now, the stakes are higher now for the sordid teenage love story they have in their heads with Ranma. _Her smirk only raised the girls' heckles. _And I'm their target now._

Sensing some violence in the air, Ranma jerked his head around only to see daggers in the form of stares focused on Nabiki.

"Everything alright?" He moved surreptitiously closer to speak to her privately. However this had the opposite effect and the stinging impressions on his back increased.

She nodded back, "Yep, couldn't be better." Putting her outdoor shoes in the locker, she found that her indoor ones were missing.

Ranma meanwhile had opened his and had to step back as a series of pink letters cascaded out.

"Oh for the love of –"

Biting his tongue, Ranma crouched down to scoop them up and crammed them back in there after grabbing his indoor pair. Checking to his right, he saw Nabiki just standing there in her socks.

"Something wrong?"

Looking at him, she smiled warmly, "No, everything is right." She tilted her head in the direction of her locker, "My slippers are missing, probably some childish form of bullying."

Ranma chuckled to himself, "But, we're kids ourselves, aren't we?"

"No, we are adults. Therefore we must act in an adult manner to such things." She took a step closer to him, "Carry me to my desk, Ranma." She beamed now, "Take your time; there's no need to rush. I don't mind who sees you. When I'm there, could you ask the nurse if she has any spares?"

His eyes tightened amicably, and his grin had many teeth in it as the number of faces turned in their direction increased, "Certainly, getting your feet dirty will not do." Nodding in agreement he rapidly scooped her up beneath her knees, holding her there for a few seconds, "Is this comfortable?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes, very…" Nabiki was content, her face calm and relaxed as she relished the coming journey.

Walking carefully through the school, up the three flights of stairs, and through the long corridor, Ranma made sure to act perfectly natural and casual. Even though it was normal for him to carry Nabiki like this on their long commute to and from home, it was mostly too fast for anybody to see the blurs fly by or under cover of dark.

On this occasion he made it very obvious as to what he was doing.

"Here you go. I'll have a word with the nurse." Ranma said as he placed Nabiki on her desk, her legs dangling off the floor.

As some girls began to surround her, he strode toward the nurse's office, a small trail of followers keeping an eye on him.

Yuko sat in Nabiki's chair and spoke above the other girls who were asking about the relationship, to which the latter failed to respond to.

"Looks like Ranma's taken now, huh?" Her smile was genuine, though her eyes were tinged with a downwards look.

Nabiki replied to her directly, "I wouldn't say that, he's more than welcome to choose whoever he wants." She leaned back and stared out of the window, "I'm just a normal girl, and he's a special guy. Any girl who has him will be lucky."

"Finally found a pair your size…" Said guy appeared in the doorway and handed Nabiki some slippers, "Hey, Yuko, how are you?"

"Good, glad to see you two setting the school alight again." She got up as Nabiki planted her feet on the ground, "Been a while since we had some juicy gossip around here."

"Oh, you mean about us?" Ranma asked curiously, scratching the back of his head, "What kinda things?"

Yuko walked to the window encouraging the twosome to join her. Here at the back of the class it was quieter, and the other observers were unable to get any closer without it being obvious.

"Aside from the physical closeness, naturally having taken each other as their life partner through the very act of love making -"

Ranma facefaulted onto the windowsill, smashing his face into it hard, "It's not like that!"

"- not to mention the damsel in distress syndrome whereby the strong prince rescues the weak peasant girl -"

Nabiki slammed her hand on the same ledge, "Hold it right there, I'm no peasant!"

"- and on top of that your continued insistence that there is nothing between the two of you only makes things more suspicious to your true hidden relationship." Yuko glanced at the two of them either side of her, stuck between anger and horror. "Whatever confusion you're creating seems to be working. No one really knows what things are like between the two of you. You're playing crazy roles sometimes acting like long term lovers, but other times you are total strangers. However, I can tell." Yuko smiled knowingly, tapping her temple, "I can see how things are. You two are inseparable at this point."

"What, me and Nabiki? You must be kidding. We're just friends." Ranma protested, waving his hands about a little too strongly for Nabiki's liking. Yuko moved back a little to give them some breathing room.

_What's he talking about now? Better nip this in the bud now before he gets any louder. _Understanding that Yuko managed to see more than the others at the school, she didn't mind exposing the truth a little.

"Just a second, Ranma. I thought I said that we don't have to be just friends any more, didn't I?"

"Yeah, well... I guess so, but you already said... something else..." Taking this chance to look out onto the playground, he did so.

Yuko sighed and came in closer, "You know, things would be so much easier on yourselves if you just admitted how you feel about each other. There'd be no need to hide from each other so much."

Nabiki turned to look at her fully, "What do you mean? I'm not hiding from Ranma."

Yuko shrugged, raising her hands up, "I'm not sure, but it seems like you're constantly doing something to keep yourself busy and away from him." She turned to Ranma, "And you, keeping her at a distance too isn't helping either as you're moving yourself away from your other classmates."

Ranma angled his face away from her, "I'm not doing that."

Nabiki frowned. _Hang on, why is Ranma keeping away me? He's got no reason to do that._

Yuko giggled, "You're both cute, but a bit dumb too. Once you realise it, you'll both feel much better."

Stepping away from them, she returned to her seat and began chatting to her neighbours, leaving Ranma and Nabiki both looking outside. Glancing at each other at the same time, they both flinched their gazes away slightly and made to look casual, before Nabiki mumbled something unintelligible.

"Huh?"

"I said that we should talk a bit later, okay?" Her eyes were tired, the eyelids half open and her expression one of sadness, her mouth curled down at the edges. Surprisingly it was one Ranma recognised, but never thought he would see on her face.

It was a look of defeat.

**That evening  
Saotome Cottage**

"So, what's going on Nabiki?"

Ranma had put on the kettle to return him to male form, given that he carried her straight after the work in the café. Both of them had longer shifts meaning it was complete darkness outside.

"Don't..." Nabiki put her hand on his and took the kettle away from the heat, "Could you do me a favour and heat the bedroom up? I'm not particularly hungry tonight..."

"Yeah, me neither..." Waving to her, the redhead called back, "Should be perfect in five minutes or so."

As the door closed, Nabiki muttered a thank you.

Facing the window overlooking the lake, she held a fist over her chest and pressed hard.

_What am I doing? Is this crazy of me to even try this?_

Her heart could only respond in rhythmic beats, but there was no hidden Morse code or any kind of signal from her body as to the answer for her questions.

_Then again, I need this for myself. I have to know._

Facing the bedroom and feeling the hum from the Kinjakan, she went over there and turned the light off for the main living area.

The still female Ranma was wearing some pyjamas instead of just his boxer shorts sitting on the left side of the bed. Having been around Nabiki, a little feminine modesty was introduced, though the flowery pattern wasn't one he agreed with personally.

Nabiki flashed her eyes to the light switch, again turning it off. Once again, Ranma knew the drill; never look at Nabiki when she was changing, or it would be the floorboards for him, or worse the grass outside.

The molten red ring of the Kinjakan acted like a giant nightlight as it generated the heat. Using this small amount of visibility, Nabiki undressed and got into her own night clothing, picking a warm pair since the winter was rapidly approaching.

Lying in bed, she stared up at the ceiling, the impression of the warm halo a comforting sight to focus on.

"Ranma..." She began.

"Hmm?" The martial artist didn't sound particularly sleepy, and was a bit agitated and grumpy in her reply.

"What's happened between us?" She turned to face her, but only saw the pigtail staring at her, "Why are you keeping away from me?"

The hair quivered, and Ranma only mumbled something she couldn't hear.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Reaching out and placing a hand on her shoulder, Ranma shied away, curling up into an even smaller position on the bed.

This time Nabiki was stumped.

_I'm totally lost. I must have said something to him which really killed him... But what? _The time at the hospital was the only time she struggled to recall. _It's all muddled, Ranma carried me down, I was laughing, being driven there, lying on the stretcher, being pumped with drugs of some sort. Ranma stayed with me the whole night..._

Doing the only thing she knew, Nabiki scooted closer to the shorter girl, feeling the body warmth as she gently pressed against Ranma's back.

Feeling her posture stiffen, Nabiki curled an arm under Ranma's head whilst looping her left arm over the girl. Closing both arms, being careful to place the lower arm on the ribcage beneath the others ample chest, she pulled the frozen girl into a soothing hug.

"N-Nabiki..." Her hoarse voice choked out.

Recognising the damp area on the redhead's pillow through her sleeve, she breathed into her ear, "Ranma, why were you crying?"

"Y-You said you were scared. You said you left everything behind, and you didn't know why." Nabiki could feel the girl shake as she spoke.

"When was this?" Nabiki refused to let go from the hug, bringing her in closer, but not to cause any physical pain.

"The hospital, we spoke together before you fell asleep."

Nabiki thought back, only remembering a warm hand on her forehead and a sense of peace flowing through her, and then nothing.

"Ranma, whatever I said back then, I was delirious. I can't even remember it myself and -"

This time, Nabiki paused.

_Wait a sec, why can't I remember it? Even when I had the flu those few times in my life I could recall all those crazy delusions I had at night when having mad dreams..._

Words poured into her head, a sad tone from a male voice, as the sentences grew more complete as more were recited.

_"- knew this would happen… - you suddenly want to live with me? - no sense to a clever girl - could have just found me - then gone home - looks like the effect - incense spell truly wore off - now you can go home - happy back with your family - going to be alone again -"_

Finally realising who it was that had spoken then, as the voice finally became recognisable, she began to sniff a bit, nuzzling her face into Ranma's nape.

_"It figures really, my life is nature's plaything, there to be messed with forever."_

"Oh Ranma... Did you think I was going to leave you like that?"

"N-Nabiki?" A hand touched that of the former Ice Queen, "Are you crying again?"

"N-No... Don't be so nosey, it's just my allergies..." She sniffed again.

Ranma chuckled, "If you say so..." As she relaxed into the hug, Nabiki spoke on.

"Ranma, whatever it was I said then, it must have been a side effect of the incense wearing off. It made me forget what I said back in the hospital and it's still fuzzy to me." She stopped for a moment, "You know what though, I can recall what you said back then... When I was sleeping..."

A short intake of breath made Nabiki smile warmer, "Don't be shy, guys can get emotional too." Moving her lower arm restlessly, she raised it, "Come on, let me see you."

Reluctantly, but obliging, Ranma rolled towards Nabiki and adjusted herself in bed to face her.

_Perhaps being a girl is good for him sometimes... _Nabiki noted idly to herself and she saw the dampness on Ranma's cheeks, glistening from the humming red circle in the centre of the room.

Still with one arm trapped under the other girl's head, Nabiki used the cuff of her other arm to wipe the tears away.

"There, much better."

Ranma's face now gleamed, though her annoyed expression was off-putting.

"I'm going to say this only once, Ranma, and I want you to listen carefully, because I may not have the guts to say it again." She swallowed quietly and began to speak as the redhead listened intently, "You were right. Why would I want to live with you? I'm a clever girl, and sure, I could have just found you and then returned home, back to my family, happy as can be." She breathed in as Ranma's eyes widened, "But to what end? I would forever be the only person in Nerima who knew about you, struggling to live all alone over here. How could I possibly be happy, knowing how sad it must be for you to have no one to support you, no one to trust, and no one to be open with? You'd forever have to live in a lie you created, an orphan with no relatives. Do you have any idea what it is like to be truly alone?

Ranma eyes flicked downwards as she spoke.

"Sure, your dad took you on a long training trip, and may have left you alone for some time I'll bet, but no matter what, he always came back for you and took care of you, though the level of care is debatable."

A snort came from Ranma as she held back a laugh, and even Nabiki smiled. With her right hand, she massaged the back of Ranma's neck, feeling her calm down further.

"Being alone, having no one to rely on, this is nothing I would wish on anybody." Nabiki closed her eyes, "Ryouga, Ukyo, Pantyhose, Kumon... Those are just some of the people you've met who lived part of their lives alone. Ryouga, god knows how long it's been since he last saw his family, though they must be alive somewhere, hopefully. Ukyo went to train for years, living as a boy, is her father even alive any more? We just don't know. Pantyhose, living his life to try to find Happosai to change his name, even using his namesake as a weapon? What about his family, are they around? How long has he been searching for?"

Nabiki's face turned serious, "Kumon, we know for a fact now that he's the last person in his family, and he dedicated his life to rebuilding his dojo with only a violent art. All that loneliness channelled into one goal, and he ultimately failed." She shook her head, "Everyone I mentioned was like that when they first met you. Anger beyond compare. They could not see beyond their old grudges from the past of painful events that changed their lives forever. Is that how you're going to be one day if you stayed here all alone?"

Sighing sadly, she saw Ranma's face fall too, "They can't bring those times back and change the paths they took. Take Ryouga, what if he found his family and lived together with them, maybe even being home-schooled? Imagine if Ukyo didn't pretend to be a boy and ran her okonomiyaki store with her father. Or Pantyhose, why didn't he try to learn to live with Happosai's choice, since a name doesn't define a person. Finally, Kumon, someone who knew he had nothing left tried to start over, but needed the final secret art. All he had was a deadly skill of his own, but nothing else and no one to show it to. He could have begun his own dojo with his other abilities surely…"

Ranma nodded sadly at Nabiki whilst remaining enraptured by her speech.

"Such stories will forever be fiction, people can write about these 'what ifs', but they will never be true. The reality is fixed. You however, have changed it irrevocably." Playing with Ranma's pigtail, she went on, "You no longer exist as you were and can start anew."

Releasing her free hand, she ran it through the red locks, "But you're not going to be alone any more. I'm going to stay here, not for you, and not for me." Ranma flushed red, "I'm staying here for us. I want to be with you. We alone know exactly what we have both been through to get this far, and so we can trust each other implicitly with everything and anything."

Nabiki cried again, but her genuine smile reached her eyes as the tears welled up.

"That's why I can't lie to myself any more. I wanted you to decide on your own what your choice was for the future, but it only resulted in my own feelings countering these effects. Getting jealous when Yuko speaks to you, how the girls leave you notes all the time." She chuckled wryly, "I thought I was stronger than this, but in the end, my own heart wore me down… Knowing now that the incense isn't influencing me any longer, and that my body is on the mend after stopping the painkillers, I can finally tell you my truth…"

A few seconds of hearts pounding together, the redhead didn't dare breath, until Nabiki whispered to her.

"I love you, Ranma…"

The martial artist's mouth opened in a small circle, the shock hitting her, just as Nabiki pressed her lips against hers in a soft but powerful kiss.

Deepening it further, she pulled the former in closer as her tears mingled with Ranma's own. Both pairs of arms encircled each other as they tried to envelope each other, to feel each part of the other's body. She felt Ranma's moaning through her tongue before hearing it.

Rolling over on top of the shorter girl, still locked at the lips, she allowed her hands to wonder and squeezed Ranma's breast and teasing a certain nub there before pausing. Opening her eyes and squinting in the low light, she pulled back and saw Ranma's reddened face and quickened breath, only noticing then that she too was breathing fast.

She smirked kindly, "Sorry, got a little bit carried away." Nabiki kissed Ranma on the nose, "You're too cute and pretty, perhaps even more attractive than me." She lowered her body on top of the redhead, and continued to speak quietly into her ear, "While I may not swing that way, I could get used to this arrangement."

Moving over back to her usual side of the bed, she sighed contently, planting her head in the palm of her hands.

"So, say something Ranma… Are you happy with me being your girlfriend or not? Do you want this as much as me?"

The heavy panting had ceased by now, and the only sign of what happened before was a slight humidity in the room and a musky smell which permeated the sheets.

"Nabiki…" Ranma turned to face her, then by initiating a hug, "I… I honestly don't know what to say… I've been… afraid that you would leave…" She bit her lower lip, "I care for you a lot, I worry about you and think about you all the time now… I don't know if that's love or not…" She closed her eyes tightly, trying to will away the frustration, "I can't tell you if this is love. My experience in that field has been… unreliable…" She relaxed her rapid breathing, "All I know is that I don't want to lose you and that I want to protect you."

"That's good enough for me." Nabiki turned her head and kissed Ranma on her forehead, "You just told me your truth, and I like what I heard." Adjusting herself on the bed to face Ranma properly, she wore a pleased grin, "It's good to know that someone has my back here, and is thinking about me like that. Don't be afraid to act out your feelings Ranma, even in public. I'm not going to get angry at you or get embarrassed like a certain relative of mine." Her eyes were stern now, "Remember that. I'm not Akane and never have been. I don't misinterpret your actions, or at the very least, I think about what just happened first before I actually act accordingly. Do you understand?"

Ranma watched her unwavering eyes carefully and nodded lightly, before moving closer and kissing her gently on the lips before pulling back.

Seeing only a cheerful expression in return, Ranma returned for a second kiss, this time longer and more adventurous. As she opened her mouth slightly to let her tongue roam and tease Nabiki's lips, she was only slightly surprised when they parted and was joined by Nabiki's own eagerness.

Sensing a few shivers form the other girl, Ranma proceeded to lightly trace her hand along the spine and small of Nabiki's back, prompting a tiny bite on Ranma's tongue and a strangled whimper. Reaching under the latter's loose top, the redhead stroked the bare skin of Nabiki, getting her more audibly aroused by the increasing volume and intensity of the noises being elicited.

Soon both sets of hands were caressing the other person's body underneath the layer of pyjamas, tickling sensitive regions, kneading soft spots, rubbing the muscles and scratching the shoulder blades. As the heat between the two grew to a feverous level, Ranma accidentally slipped in her ministrations and cupped Nabiki's breast.

The twosome stopped moving as their panting of breath synchronised. Their eyes taking in the other's appearance, the sheen of sweat adorning their faces and the sated expressions segueing into a sleepy ones.

Kissing Ranma lightly, Nabiki nodded a tiny amount, "It's okay Ranma." She mouthed and nudged her body a bit, "You can feel if you want, but let's not go any further, okay?" She voiced huskily, "There's plenty of time for us to get to know each other, intimately…" She swallowed her nervousness, "No need to rush everything tonight."

Taking her queue as approval, Ranma gently caressed the breast, feeling the soft flesh beneath her fingers, trying not to squeeze it too hard. Passing her fingers over the small protrusion caused Nabiki to judder and hiss sharply between her clenched teeth, making Ranma jump.

Releasing her hand, she stared at the older girl only to see her relax quickly. Smiling to herself, Ranma moved her arm to the safe region of Nabiki's back.

"Sorry, I guess you're more sensitive than I thought…" She cleared her throat to speak a little clearer since it was still a little too gravelly, "Well, that, and I'm a bit… you know…" She smothered her face into her pillow as the blush spread outwards.

Nabiki giggled to herself, "My, my, Ranma Saotome. Who would've thought you to be a prude?"

There was a grunt and a rumble from the pillow from a displeased girl.

"That's good to know. At least I'm not the only one embarrassed at all this." Reaching to Ranma's armpit, she wiggled her fingers and got her to laugh as she tried to defend herself in vain, "Okay, now we're even." Kissing Ranma quickly, she retreated to her side of the bed, giving room between the twosome, "Sleep well, and have good dreams."

"I'm sure I will…" Ranma smirked back, the heat not having left her face yet.

As they both moved about on their half, getting to the point when they were ultimately comfortable, a small trace of movement snaked towards the centre of the bed.

At the midpoint, both hands met and interlocked with one another as their breathing settled into a slow and steady tempo.

**Next morning**

Nabiki was up first, getting out of the bedroom to prepare some warm chocolate using the main kettle to heat up some milk. Keeping an eye on the liquid, she made sure it didn't start to boil up too much before pouring it into a mug with chocolate powder already in it.

Putting it down, she took a sip from her cup and held it with both hands, exhaling in a serene manner.

A loud yawn came from the other room and the bed squeaking, followed by light taps on floorboards.

The door opened as Ranma carried the Kinjakan into the room, casting the warm air to all corners, before sticking it into a prefabricated hold in the floor.

Getting up again, Nabiki made another mug of chocolate for him. Handing it to Ranma while drinking from her own, her eyes lit up over the rim of her mug.

"Thanks Nabiki." She accepted it and drank it quietly, still a bit woozy from getting up early.

Having finished her drink quickly, Nabiki rinsed it out in the sink and placed it on the rack, before grabbing the second metal kettle with cold water having filled it only halfway, as well as a spare tea towel.

Still yawning to herself, but at least more awake, she held it in the middle of the flaming ring. Within seconds, the kettle heated up, but not enough to burn her hand or to make the metal sear her. Satisfied, by this, she emptied the small amount of the water over Ranma's head, now transforming back to her birth gender.

Returning it to the sink, she picked up some bread from the icebox and walked behind the Kinjakan, then simply threw the four slices through the hoop.

Instantly toasted, Ranma plucked them out of the air and placed them on the plates in front of him as Nabiki went to buttering them up.

Both taking a bite out of their light breakfast, they glanced at each other and laughed.

_Oh, this is pure madness. I'm using a deadly weapon from a Phoenix god-like being as a glorified hob, toaster and central heating._

Wiping her eyes from the involuntary tears, holding her pained ribs, she collected herself and stared at Ranma, her head resting on her palms.

"What, do I have crumbs on my face again?" He asked as the self-conscious side of him riled up.

"Yes… Let me help…" Groaning extravagantly like a disappointed mother, she strode over to him with a techy expression.

Leaning over to look at his face, she proceeded to lick the crumbs off delicately, before lightly kissing the parts of the cheek affected. Once it was clear, she kissed him on the lips and returned to her seat.

"Okay, that's breakfast over with. Shall we prepare to go soon?" Hearing no response she turned to look at him and snorted, "Oh Ranma, loosen up a little." Seeing that pink face warmed her somehow, and she reached over the table to poke his arm, "I'm the same old Nabiki. No need to act all coquettish, okay? I won't crack easily."

Ranma tried to cough out a lump in his throat, "What if I crack first?" He undid a few buttons at the top of the pyjamas to release his neck a bit, the smaller size fitted mainly for his female form finally getting to him.

"You'll adapt, you always do." She folded her arms, "We can play this game where we are not together, but I decided for myself yesterday." She thumped her hands on the table, "I'm tired of pretending. I want to be proud of my choice of boyfriend, not ashamed. And if the other girls get jealous, so what?"

As placed her elbow on the table and extended her hand to him.

"Are you in, or out?" Her raised eyebrows and sinister grin issued the challenge.

"Hmph…" Ranma shook his head, before returning her smirk with a truly arrogant one of his own, "You're going to have to do better than that to scare me off." Grabbing her hand, his own elbow pressing hard on the table, he spoke on, "I'll show you just what they're missing out on."

"Heh." Tightening her grip, Nabiki turned sharply to the door, stunned.

Following her shock, Ranma snapped his head around.

Grinning for this opportunity, she slammed his hand down on the table, given that they were in the perfect position for an arm wrestle. However, she felt her hand vibrating slightly.

_Odd, it shouldn't be moving any more._

A second later, she realised it was Ranma's arm shaking, as his hand was hovering off the ground with only a centimetre separating it from the table's surface.

_I've lost now…_

Slowly, and straining, the arm was brought back up without much effort from him, though Nabiki was putting as much power as she could into it.

Now that it was back at the starting position, it was approaching her loss point, the back of her hand nearing the wood.

"I have no choice now…" The sweat build-up on her brow dripped onto her empty plate.

Catching Ranma's attention, she tried to feel for that elusive ki of hers. _I can't use it at all yet to power me up, but it should distract him for that one second I need…_

Sending it outwards in a pulsing manner, the tiny purple flames unfurled as she raised her other hand high in the air and shouted.

"Tendo Forbidden Technique!"

Ranma's arm stopped descending, his senses on high alert, watching that deadly posture she held.

"Parting of the Heavenly Valley!"

Slicing her hand down, she angled her fingertips inwards to catch the top of her pyjama, slashing in one smooth motion to peel off each button individually. Since they were only the simplest of snap fasteners, they were ideal for sleeping, as there were rarely any rough movements. However, if stretched, they would simply pop off, which was useful and easy to dress for a long sleep or to prepare for work fast.

Given that these were for night clothing, as everyone knows, there is no need for any support beneath it in the form of a bra. Therefore all that remained was her bare skin below that layer.

In this instant, they were the perfect defence against him.

"GAH!"

Ranma held his nose with his other hand as Nabiki's generous cleavage expanded and contracted as her breasts bounced about within the confines of her rapidly slackening top.

"Stopitstopitstopitstopit-!" He closed his eyes as Nabiki grinned and jerked her other arm back to her winning area, only for Ranma to finally stop it at the same spot as before.

"Fine." She sulked childishly, and placed her free hand over her skin and pulled the sides together.

_I lost, even with that attack, he still managed to hold me back._

"It's a tie then." Ranma said, his eyes now risking a peek outwards.

"Yep, stalemate." Unhanding him, she sat back and began to seal away her weapons, as he observed her movements, "What, do you want to see more?"

Ranma stood up and placed his arms behind his head, "Yeah, but we need to rush to school, also I have my own pair anyway for that." He clapped his hands together suddenly, " Right! Time to change!"

As he walked nonchalantly to the room, Nabiki ceased her actions, "Wait a minute…"

The door closed, and as she stormed up towards the bedroom, his laughter grew.

Her subsequent roar scattered the birds away from the trees nearby.

"What the hell did you mean by that, Ranma?"

**Twenty minutes later  
The roofs of Misawa City**

Ranma held a sulking Nabiki securely as they soared over the buildings at a blinding speed, avoiding the built up areas to prevent more eyes catching a glimpse of them.

"I'm still upset…" She glared huffily.

"Yeah, well, if you tease me that much, then you'll get the same medicine back." His jumps were careful now, and his face was completely relaxed, a large contrast to the previous day.

"Still, if you wanted to…" Nabiki let her sentence drag off into the air.

"I know…" Ranma tickled her slightly by her thigh where his hand was holding her, "I'm a guy too. Problem is that aside from everything in Nerima, I've never really had a real girlfriend." His lip curled up on one side, "My relationships have been mad. Akane hitting me if I said something stupid, Ukyo getting jealous and also feeding me whenever I wanted, Shampoo just throwing herself on me, or riding into me…" He convulsed which Nabiki felt the vibrations from, "I'm not even going to mention the Kunos…"

"So, what you're saying is…?"

"I don't know how to treat you, or react. I know I say dumb stuff sometimes, and I get that it upsets you." He smile was thinning, "I'm getting better though, but I want you to know that I care for you, Nabiki."

Placing her hand over his, she held onto it, "I believe you, Ranma. I'm not going to think you hate me after a few words, okay?" Shutting her eyelids, she listened to the wind rushing by, "As I said last night, I'm not my younger sister. I don't make snap judgements of our relationship over a simple word or two."

Feeling his chest puff out considerably, Ranma laughed quietly, "Thanks, Nabiki." His speed lowered drastically, "We're near school now."

Dropping from the roof, Ranma landed on his tiptoes onto the ground between two houses, and allowed Nabiki to stand on her own feet.

"Okay, time to learn more useful stuff like history…" He muttered before striding out of the alley with Nabiki beside him.

"Do you mind if I tell Yuko about this?" Nabiki asked, "She's the only girl who's really spoken to me a lot since we arrived, and she's an okay person from what I gathered."

"Yeah, why not?" Ranma shrugged, "She's nice, friendly to me also, and not like the other girls."

"The grapevine will catch wind of this soon enough anyway." Nabiki ran a hand through her hair to pat down the errant strands disturbed by their morning commute, "Our relationship status will officially be updated."

Ranma thought to himself, holding his chin as they walked, "Be careful then, I don't know what's going to happen with those girls. Sure, they're no Shampoo, Ukyo or Kodachi, but they'll probably be jealous." His face darkened as the shadow beneath his fringe grew, "Jealous women can do mean things."

A brief chortle and Nabiki was already in a better mood, patting Ranma on the back, "Thanks for worrying about me, but I can handle myself. You have your methods, and I have my own." She adjusted her school bag to her other hand, "But, if I do need help, I'll let you know."

"Good, because we're here." He nodded to the school entrance with several students already milling about.

"Ladies first, Ranma." She winked at him, making him colour due to the unbidden memories from one night ago.

Trying to cover his cheeks, he walked in surreptitiously, but the very motion of hiding his expression only led to more curious glances. Sighing, he dropped his hand, thankful that the looks stopped.

"Feeling better now?" Nabiki taunted.

Glowering at her, Ranma opened his locker again to find a few more love letters, along with a small congregation of potential girlfriends hovering around the area, waiting for his response.

Nabiki opened her own one to find her shoes back in their place. _Guess they didn't want me to be carried up again to class._

Hearing a ripping sound, she turned to see Ranma shred the notes and scatter them to the ground.

"Sorry about the litter." He grinned at her, "Had to take out the rubbish to put my stuff in."

Strolling out of that area, past a group of sad girls, Nabiki followed close behind him much to their visible consternation. Ranma, sensing the change in the air, reached back and grabbed Nabiki's hand.

"Here, let's go in together."

Nodding, she brushed her arm against him as she moved in, "Sure."

Uncaring of how others saw her, Nabiki felt his warmth spread via his sole hand-to-hand contact all through her body. His heartbeat was strong too, powerful and calming at the same time.

Entering their classroom, they were met by a few snooping gazes, before most of them turned away, their interest having waned.

_Aah, the attention span of the average teenager. The moment something new and surprising appears, they get bored and try to find the next best thing._

"So, I take it congratulations are in order?"

Yuko sidled up to the two of them and smiled in her innocent-but-wise manner.

"Uh... Yeah..." Ranma let go of Nabiki's hand in a gentle manner, not jerking it away suddenly, "I guess you could say that."

Nabiki smiled once again, "What can I say, Yuko? There was no hiding it any more."

Yuko's face transformed to a lascivious leer, "You'd better tell me what happened between you two."

Ranma flinched backwards, and even Nabiki jolted, "M-Maybe later." She glanced around, "Too many ears around."

Yuko noticed the circle of spectators around the trio expanding outwards as they tried to escape the audible region, but her eyes kept them away even further.

Approaching the two of them, she rested her arms around the backs of their necks.

"It's been a while since I've gotten along so well with other people…" Her smile widened, though shivers ran down the couple's spines as she whispered into their ears, "I hope we get to know each other even better."

Sidling away to speak to some other members of the class, nattering on about some new job of hers, Ranma and Nabiki turned to each other, their heartbeats pulsing irregularly.

"Something tells me that we may have just –" He began haltingly.

She ended the sentence for him, "- become acquaintances of another strange person."

A slight tone rose in the air, as if the air conducted static electricity through its very molecules. Yuko turned to face them and smiled again, the grin far too wide to be considered normal.

Finally breaking their gaze, Ranma shrugged, "Does it matter? If she is a bother, I'll just stop her."

Nabiki nodded, "I have my ways too."

In agreement, they sat down to their lessons, ready for the new day of school.

**That evening**

Nabiki finished her last piece of work for that assignment and filed away the receipts in their section.

_The figures were all in order, inconsistencies of purchases were out by a few yen only, which was to be expected for a small margin of error._

She tapped the keyboard idly.

_That individual is still spending too much on personal taxi services… The time of the receipt is also after office hours, which is rather peculiar._

She thought again about the receipts in question.

_There's some sort of pattern here, never the same day in a row, in fact it's one day later. So one week it'll be Monday, the week after it'll be Tuesday and so on…_

Looking at her calendar on the computer, she noted the date and time.

_In fact… the last one was just over a week ago. This means that the person is going to be requesting the taxi again in about an hour._

Frowning, she saved her spreadsheet.

_No matter what, this looks questionable to me. If it was random taxis, then I wouldn't mind, but there is a definite pattern here. If it was anyone else scanning over these figures they wouldn't care so much. Whoever it is able to hide in plain sight, safe in the knowledge that no one would dare enquire about these oddities._

"All done, Nabiki-kun?"

Shutting down her computer, she leaned back in her chair slightly to look up at the speaker.

"Yes, Kimura-san, my work here is done." She stretched her arms out and felt her knuckles pop.

_Of course, my top is opened out now a bit for him to see more of what he will never get._

"Good work, we do appreciate everything you do for us." His hand was on her shoulder for a little longer than necessary, and began to make her fidget inside, "There are ways to guarantee your continued stay at our company, should you want your contract extended."

This time, his fingers slowly began to move, a little too close to the scruff of her neck, the back of his hand touching the base of her haircut.

Biting her lip hard to repress the shudder in her body, she tittered to herself, "Oh, come now Kimura-san, I just want to earn a little bit of money to support myself. I haven't committed myself to a full-time career after school yet, but I'll keep it in mind." Pushing her chair back, she stood up, in turn getting Kimura to remove his hand, "I'll be back tomorrow for continue." Sending a polite smile his way, she bowed lightly, "Have a good evening."

Responding in kind, he allowed her to leave her desk, straightening her chair after she left.

"What an interesting girl." Kimura licked his lips, "She does play hard to get though…" Glancing about, checking no one was there, he leaned over to sniff the air, "Ahh, her perfume… Most intoxicating…"

Nabiki felt a chill as she left the building, one not related to the wind.

_Something is strange at that office; I'm going to get Ranma to help me uncover it. _Seeing an electronic clock face she began to walk towards the café. _I need to work fast, if I'm going to have Ranma on my side._

A rush of heat assaulted her body as she walked. The grin that adorned her features was a private one.

"I wonder if Ranma's having an interesting day."

**Earlier  
Maid Café**

It was busy.

Very busy.

Ranma was hopping from table to table, serving out drinks, sundaes and light meals for their male clientele. There were more troublemakers today, but Ranma was fending them off with ease.

"Ranma, could I have a word?"

"Sure boss." Wiping her hands with the anti-bacterial wipes handed out to employees in the rest area, she heard one of the girls in the changing room.

"We have a new girl working today. Could you help her get accustomed to the routine here?"

"Sure…" She threw away the used tissue and waited for the boss to leave the room, before leaning against the wall of the tiny area where employees dress up, "So, you need help in there? The ribbon is a little complicated…"

"Ranma…" The voice was too familiar to him, "That's funny, I know a guy at school with that same name."

The newcomer left the room and faced the redhead, who felt a pang of regret at giving his real name out, at the same time as his skin developing goosebumps, "In fact, he wears a pigtail just like you too…"

"Ah… Hehe. That's weird isn't it?" Ranma scratched her cheek, a little harder than needed to feel the pain which would help remove the impression that this was a dream, "So, uh, I'm Ranma… What's your name?"

She bowed courteously, "Pleased to meet you, my name is Yuko." Her smile was wide, too wide, "I'll be working with you for a while, so please teach me well, senpai."

"N-No problem…" He watched her as she opened her locker to pull out a small metal implement made of two connected rods, "Uh, what's that that?"

Yuko quirked her head to one side. "This place has gropers, right?"

"Yeah, I take care of them with a little show of strength." Ranma nodded, "They generally stop after that."

"Good." Twirling the rods about in an elaborate movement to open it out, she was now holding a rather long and deadly knife, "Since I have none of that, then I'll just use the classic fear technique." Brandishing it and spinning it across both hands, she expertly wove it back into its innocuous form, "As long as I don't hurt anyone, right?"

Ranma felt a sweatdrop forming and nodded, her mouth dried up, "Y-Yeah…"

As Yuko hid her butterfly knife inside a pocket at the side of her top, she sidled out of the employee's area.

Whistling to herself, Ranma narrowed her eyes before following her out.

"Yes, as long as none of us get hurt."

**Author's Notes**

Since I don't want the relationship to stagnate any further, the hot-blooded resolution was in this chapter. First time writing scenes like this, I hope you all enjoyed it!

Since this is 'reality' in comparison to Nerima, it is not impossible for there to be bizarre individuals. Ranma and Nabiki's life has to involve such people, or else it would be far too mundane for them.

Decided to update this story quickly since I felt more inspiration than usual, I'm sure you all like this 'fast' update!

Also, updated rating to M because of that certain scene here.

J


	7. Hitting the Fan

**In my Arms, In my Heart**

**Chapter 7**

**Hitting the Fan**

**Maid Café  
20 minutes later**

The bustle of the girls milling about serving created an odd tension in the room.

Ranma was watching Yuko carefully hand out drinks to people. Helping her out with some light pointers on the table numbers and also how to balance the tray, the redhead could not help but notice the way she carried herself to swing her hips a little more seductively than she does at school.

Raising her eyebrow, Ranma continued to serve tables in the meantime, again realising that there was one table in particular which would require some form of control through her drink crushing technique.

However, before she got the red tray from the counter with their second order, her sensitive hearing picked up a voice came from that section which made her blood freeze.

"Oh my… Did you just touch me?"

Hands still on the tray, Ranma could only turn as he saw Yuko talking nicely with the group of boys, each of whom were enjoying the extra entertainment.

"Well, we pay for the service, so we deserve some tips also." One boy said, laughing loudly.

Swallowing down her fear, Ranma began to walk slowly to them, only to see Yuko's shoulders shaking.

"Huhuhuhu…" The movement was due to her laughter, "Children need to be scolded when they break the rules." Her hand reached into her pocket, "In my house though, there is only one law."

The flash of silver reflected into Ranma's eyes as the knife slashed out, and tore onto something at the table.

"Disobey me, and you die."

The can, impaled through by the knife, leaked beer onto the table.

"And my rule to you is, don't grope anyone here again, or else…"

Twisting the dagger cruelly, the metal sheared apart as the flood of liquid sprayed out. Flicking her knife outwards, the droplets scattered all over the table and its occupants.

Licking the flat side of the blade of any excess, she smiled before weaving it swiftly into its inoffensive form and hiding on her person.

"Am I understood?"

The white faced boys yelled and scrambled to get out of the café much to the bemused gazes of the other customers, who didn't see or hear the rest of the conversation.

Yuko turned cheerily and went to the counter where the manager was only looking at her now.

"There's a spillage at Table 4, can I borrow the tea towel?"

"Sure, here," He handed it over to her, "If there's any on the floor, the mop is in the staff room."

"Okay!" Skipping back to the desk, she began to wipe up the mess after returning with their trays and drinks.

Ranma took this chance to help her.

"I saw that…" She spoke surreptitiously, "Wasn't that a bit much?"

"Not really, senpai…" Her grin was stretched out wider, "They weren't hurt, except for their egos maybe, and perhaps a need to clean their clothes." Her face was marred by a cute frown, "Did I do something wrong?"

Sighing, the redhead shrugged, "Next time, don't scare them so much, the boss wants them to come back one day."

"Well, if they do, they'll be sure to behave this time." She finished cleaning the table up, "Isn't that what preventative measures are for, to stop things from happening before they do happen?"

"True, but it did already happen, so you didn't really stop anything…" A cheery ringtone interrupted Ranma's reply, "Shouldn't you get that?"

Yuko smirked and nodded, "Be right back, senpai… I have to take this."

Going back to the staff area, she pulled out her mobile phone as the door closed.

The slight bell chime announced the arrival of a new patron, to which Ranma smiled mechanically.

"Hello there and welcome to –" Gawking at the girl, Ranma scooted over to her, "N-Nabiki… What are you doing here?"

"Need your help, I'm doing a spot of investigation now and require some specific skills only you possess."

"Not now!" Shushing her, Ranma waved her arms to get her to leave the café, "Yuko is working here, if she sees you –"

Eyebrow piqued, Nabiki waved her off, "Got it, I'm leaving, but meet me outside in five minutes, no later." She promptly left the place and went to the corner out of sight from the glass pane.

Sucking in a deep breath, Ranma spun round and walked back to the main area to find the owner sitting there.

"Hey boss, is it okay if I cut my shift a little early tonight? I'll make it up tomorrow."

After standing up and checking the café, he nodded, "Sure, seems to be getting quieter for the evening, you can head off Ranma."

"Thanks!"

Rushing to the staff room, she opened the door only to find Yuko snarling at her, her clamshell phone closed up hard and creaking beneath her fingers.

"W-Woah… What did I do, Yuko?" Ranma nearly leapt out of her way as the angry girl stormed outwards, before turning to face her.

"Nothing, senpai. Just got some very bad news indeed." She hid the phone in her pocket again, "Are you going home for the day?"

"Y-Yeah, I've got some things to do." Inwardly, she was trying to determine how to get out of the room without Yuko seeing.

"Aah, that's good news." She clapped her hands together, "I'll take care of the place while you're gone."

Silently sending a prayer to the remaining customers, Ranma jogged out the side exit and met up with Nabiki, who was silently tapping her foot.

"Come on, this way..." She pulled the redhead away from the café towards a side street, "Take me up, now."

Her tone broached no argument, so Ranma did as told, landing lightly on the roof above.

"What going on, Nabiki?"

"Something odd is going on at my work, there's a person who is using a different taxi company each week to go somewhere, and is claiming it from company expenses. Tonight is the night of the next taxi, and I want us to go find out who it is, and why they are covering themselves up like this."

"I see, so you want to go investigate, right?"

She nodded in response, "I'll need you help to follow the taxi, sure it can't really go fast enough on the roads when they're this busy, but I don't exactly have the stamina to run for a long time."

Ranma grinned, "Challenge accepted, we'll follow it on the rooftops, should be easy enough since it's dark already and not many people would think to look up there for anybody tailing them."

"Good, let's go to my work now, the taxi should be leaving in five minutes."

Jumping into the redhead's arms, Nabiki smiled as Ranma leapt forward towards the tall building of her company.

As they were going there, Ranma spoke up amidst the wind rushing against them, "So, what do you think you'll find?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure it's something illegal, which would mean that the CEO needs to know about it, probably trade secrets, who knows?" Her smirk returned, "Perhaps I could blackmail that person, learn more juicy info, or just turn him or her in to the police."

"Be careful, Nabiki." Ranma warned with a lower tone of voice, "Some people are not what you expect... Like Yuko..."

Ranma recounted the knife and beer incident in the café.

"Crap, sounds like another loony has found us then." Nabiki chuckled, "Looks like you always attract them, Ranma."

"Yes, I have the best luck ever..." She replied sardonically, laughing to herself.

"Still, that luck got this loony to find you." She rubbed Ranma's supporting arm gently, "So it isn't all bad."

"Yeah, you're right, you wouldn't be here now if it weren't for the mad coincidences in my life." Ranma leaned down and kissed her quickly on the forehead.

"Oh Ranma, so forward of you!" She giggled coquettishly, covering her mouth.

"Not really," She grinned back, "This is forward." Stopping just a block away, Ranma brought her head up to her own and kissed her lips, first lightly, then pressing in deeply, before moving away, "So, was that satisfactory for you?"

Nabiki was flushed and trying to breath calmly, "Y-Yes..." Swallowing her desire, she nodded, "Lust aside, let's get back to our task, then we can continue this further."

"Right." Getting straight down to business, they leapt the final street to see a taxi begin to pull away from Nabiki's building.

"Damn, we didn't see who it was, but at least we can follow it." She muttered, before nodding at Ranma, "You know what to do."

"Yep, let's go."

Calculating the distances needed, Ranma started on a parallel path to the taxi route on the buildings beside it, always keeping it slightly in front in case it turned at corners.

"This is odd, Nabiki." Ranma said, "It's going around corners at the last minute, as if the driver doesn't know where he's going."

"It's possible, maybe it's a new place he's never been to and he's relying on his GPS?" She wondered in response, "Or could the passenger not know where the place it and is checking a map?"

"Even then, you would guess they would only turn at big roads, then slowly get into the smaller streets to get to their destination." Ranma frowned at another sudden turn, "It could be something else entirely."

"What do you mean Ranma?" Nabiki looked at the blue eyed girl.

"You said so yourself, it happens once a week, and the person uses different taxi companies, if it is something illegal, they wouldn't want anyone to know what he or she is doing."

"That's true..."

"So, what if the person from your work is doing this on purpose, making the taxi man turn at strange corners to get rid of any followers on the road?" Ranma paused as the taxi waited at some red lights.

"That has to be it..." Nabiki furrowed her brow, "This person is extremely cautious, which must mean they're paranoid about someone finding out what they are doing." She lowered her eyelids to try to focus in the backseat, "This has to be something big."

Soon, the tall buildings went away and they were nearing a dark section of the city with fewer lampposts and brightly lit shops.

"This area is dangerous." Ranma noted unnecessarily.

"They must be stopping soon..."

The taxi parked a minute later at the side of a dingy building, and movement was heard from inside, presumably getting the invoice for the work related bonus. A person got out of the taxi, covered with a large overcoat as they entered the building using a key.

"Couldn't see who it was..." Ranma muttered, "They had the collar up."

"Let's get closer..." Nabiki ordered calmly, as Ranma landed like a feather on the building next to it, and checking the back.

"There's an emergency ladder there, let's go."

Softly, they went down and moved through the steps to find a window they could enter as it was slightly ajar.

"No one's in this room, there are three people downstairs though." Sliding the window open, Ranma slid in first and then helped Nabiki down into the room.

"Thanks Ranma." She whispered, "Let's try to get as close as we can to the people downstairs."

"Let me look around first..."

Ranma began to hop from room to room on that floor, checking for weak floorboards and possible routes, only finding a decrepit staircase which would undoubtedly make loud creaking sounds if they stepped on it.

About to give up, she saw an odd metallic door, before grinning widely.

"It's all about luck in the end."

**A minute later**

The old apartment building had been abandoned for a long time when the owners could no longer afford the mortgage, Given the poor area, it remains in negative equity to this day, so even though the banks now technically own the building, they couldn't sell it without making a substantial loss.

Therefore, it was left to rot away, since maintaining it for the future made little economic sense, and security guards cost money too. The countless homeless people sometimes met up and used it as a warm place of shelter for the night.

However, for this evening, another type of gathering was underway.

A scarred businessman spoke harshly, "So you're telling me that this is all you have for me today?"

A whimpering voice responded, "I-I'm sorry, there were some audits made of the books, it's harder to syphon than it was before the -"

Another, more brash individual with muscles to show for it interrupted, "Who cares about the money, do you have the files that we wanted?"

"Y-Yes, they're on this CD."

"Sato, check them now." The businessman declared.

"On it." The CD was inserted into the laptop as Sato scanned the files, "No viruses, good." After a few more minutes, he has finished skimming the details, "Yep, forecasts and pricings for the next month are here."

"Perfect."

"Is there anything else you need for the next time, Mori-san?"

"Yes, we need the following." The man with the scars handed over a piece of paper to the man, who began to quiver more.

"This is a lot, Mori-san..." He smiled, "I'm assuming the rewards will be greater."

"Of course, I'm a reasonable man." Clicking his fingers, Sato opened up a suitcase with numerous bills of yen all bound by paper, "This is payment for this job, and a small down-payment for the next."

"Excellent..." The man fanned through the notes checking they were the same, "Pleasure doing business with you, Mori-san." He adjusted his glasses after doing the inspection.

"Same here, Kimura."

Both men smirked, unbeknownst to the fact that they were being watched from the far wall.

The old lift shaft no longer had the lift itself due to an unfortunate accident years ago, all that remained was the high tension cable inside, the metallic doors were only open a fraction, but the low ambient light did not illuminate the two pairs of eyes watching them through the crack.

"Kimura-san..."

"You know him?" Ranma whispered under her breath.

Nabiki nodded, "He's my supervisor. A pervert and entirely creepy, even touched me today."

"Oh?"

Ranma cracked her feminine knuckles, only for Nabiki to put a finger to Ranma's lips.

"Don't get emotional, I got out of it fine. At least I have something to go on at work now to uncover what he's up to."

"Hold it..." Ranma held up her hand, "There's three more ki signatures outside..." Her eyebrows angled downwards, "Strange, I recognise one of them."

The front door burst inwards and the room was now surrounded by three men holding pistols.

"What the hell is this?!" Mori yelled, "Did you set us up, Kimura?!"

"N-No!" He could see the tall musclebound man aim his gun at him, "Wait!"

Sato reached for his firearm, but was picked off by one of the other two, the bullets peppering his legs and arm.

The tall newcomer spoke, "Don't try anything stupid." The two remaining stood still, Mori growling audibly, "Your friend will be fine after a nice visit to the hospital. Unless you wish to join him?" He smiled widely, his missing teeth ever evident.

"What do you want?" Mori asked, "Is it money? I have plenty of that."

"Please, if this was about money, we'd have killed you and taken it." He put the pistol away, "It's more to do with the principle of the matter." Cracking his knuckles, he approached the twosome.

"W-What do you mean by that?" Mori stepped back, growing more nervous and agitated by the casually violent movements from the tall man there.

"See, there is protocol to follow when you do some form of industrial espionage. We don't mind that so much, it's more the handling of illegally obtained funds that our boss isn't so happy with." He grinned again, "We deserve a cut of that."

"No... You're Yakuza, right?" Kimura fell to the ground, "Please, I haven't done anything to upset you!"

"Sadly, you have, and you need to pay the price for that." The burly man turned to Mori, "Likewise with yourself, we'll be taking that money now, or you may leave with a few less fingers if you really want to take it. Keep your pathetic documents, we have no need of them."

Mori kicked the suitcase to the ground, letting some of the notes fall out, "Do as you wish. I'll be going." He saw Sato get up and join him. Mori turned to his former conspirator, "Have a good afterlife Kimura."

They left the building escorted by the two other guards, leaving Kimura and the brawler together.

"Oh God... Oh God... No, please..." He cowered in the corner as the shadow loomed overhead, only for a metal shriek to pierce the silence.

"Now, now, we can't have any unlawful killing around here." Ranma hopped out of the now ruined lift doors and strode up to them, "Didn't think I'd see you again so soon." She smirked arrogantly, "Do you need another reminder of who's stronger around here? Has your finger healed yet?"

Gently massaging the small splint on one hand, the rumbling chuckle began, "Heh, you sure get around, girl." The bodyguard from the alley spun around to face her, "True, I can't beat you in hand-to-hand, but can you outrun a bullet?"

The pistol was aimed for her head, and Ranma shrugged, "Fine, be that way..." Fading from sight completely, she laughed, her voice echoing around the area, "Now, the real question is can you hit an invisible target?"

The guard paused, trying to ascertain her location, before her face appeared right in front of the barrel.

"Boo!"

Firing once, he lowered the gun, seeing that she was still standing there, the bullet still spinning freely between her two fingers, before she winced and dropped it.

"Ouch! That's really hot!" Her reddened fingers were sore from the intense friction as she blew on them to cool it down.

"What the hell are you, really?" He asked, holstering his gun.

"Told you before, a martial artist, the best there is." She jerked her head at Kimura, "I get that you let the shady businessman go, but why punish this guy here? He was only stealing some company stuff, nothing you should get mad about."

"Listen, girl..."

"The name's Ranma, man." She said pointedly.

"Fine, my name's Goto, happy?" He spat on the floor beside Kimura, "His shady dealings, while appreciated in our noble profession, are contrasted with his obsession."

"Obsession?" Ranma peered at Kimura, "What about? He seems like someone who stays indoors a lot?"

Goto ground his teeth, "This man has an unhealthy penchant for young girls, and beating on them also." He crunched his foot on a discarded can on the ground, flattening it completely, "He's already been blacklisted from our establishments for 'damaging the goods'."

"I see…"

Ranma turned from Goto to face Kimura, her lips twitching upwards, and began to step towards him at a very slow and measured pace

"So, you like to play hard with the ladies?" Ranma felt her skin heat up as her blood rushed faster to her muscles, as they prepared for battle.

"N-No! Th-They just like it when they are treated that way!"

Ranma shook her head, her teeth visible now and her eyes burning, "I suppose they were a little too weak to resist your advances, right?" She glanced back at the burly man, "Goto, I know you smoke, hand me your lighter."

Frowning slightly, he searched his suit pocket and pulled out one. It was one of the newer models which when activated looked more like a blowtorch instead of a slow flame.

Grinning wider, the redhead tucked her other hand into her sleeve.

"You know... I always wondered if I would ever have a reason to use some of these things with me, but now I'm glad I kept some."

She grabbed the table bell from the now abandoned reception area of the old hotel and poured a specific black powder into the upturned cup. Heating it up with the flame, the metal began to smoke as the dust began to burn away.

"Still, if anyone deserved this, it should be you... Kimura."

The powder was now red and emitting fumes of its own.

"It's ready..."

Her eyes now gleamed with the red sparks floating above the metal bowl as Kimura stepped even further away from her.

"Wh-What the hell are you going to me y-you weak little girl?!"

Goto tutted loudly as the lift doors shook from a small tremor in there, "What are you going to do him, Ranma?"

"Nothing much." The smell rising from acrid steam began to tickle the noses of everyone present, "Just show him how strong a weak, little girl can truly be…"

Kimura began to panic when Ranma vanished from sight and scrambled to the wall, before leaping to the side for the exit.

That was up until he felt a burning sensation on his back.

"HIIIII!"

His high pitched scream made Goto snort as he struggled to hold back a chuckle, just as Ranma appeared beside him.

"Now, he won't ever harm anyone again…" She folded her arms and stood there with a dark smirk.

"You… You burned me, you bitch!"

Kimura tried to feel behind him for the burn mark on his back, before giving up and running at Ranma, unleashing a punch to her face.

As the impact hit her, she didn't flinch nor register the attack, instead angling her head to look at him from the side of his hand.

"What that supposed to hurt me?" Her curious tone was teasing.

"B-But… I…" Kimura stepped back again, feeling his fist shake of its own accord.

"That's interesting…" Goto walked forwards and spoke to him, "If you can put a bruise on my face, I'll give you all the money in that case, and we'll never bother you again…"

Kimura spent a few seconds thinking about it, seeing the large amount of notes daintily fluttering in the breeze only tempted him further.

"Fine!" Taking another running start, he let loose of Goto with both hands clenched together, slamming it down on his head.

"Hmm, most intriguing, barely a tap, and I'm guessing that this is your full strength now…" Goto stood up again, since he crouched down before for Kimura to be able to hit his face.

The now voice stricken Kimura began to looks at his hands, his eyes widening and irises becoming pin pricks.

Ranma growled, "Get the hell out of here," Casually pointing at one corner of the room and blasting it with a miniature Moko Takabisha, "Or the next one won't miss…"

Fleeing, and screaming all the way, Kimura left the building dodging the other henchmen who didn't try to stop him.

Sighing to herself, Ranma walked over to where the ash was deposited on the floor, before grinding it into the dirt and scattering it to the winds.

"So, now that he's dealt with…" She turned to Goto, "What are you going to do now? Are you going to stop me from getting out of here?" She peered closely at him to discern if he was preparing for a fight.

"And lose spectacularly? Not a chance…" He lowered his gaze at the floor, "What exactly was that?"

"Not telling… I also made sure you're not going to be able to use it again either." She levelled her gaze at his two friends, "I don't exactly agree with your activities though, I hope I don't see anything happening around me, or else I may need to take action of my own."

Goto folded his arms, "Is that a threat?"

The redhead took three steps forward so she was staring up at his face, half a metre separating the two.

"Yes."

She started glow faintly as the blue ki seeped out from her skin.

Goto halted his movement, waiting for any attack from Ranma. None was forthcoming however and her open warning was left there in the air.

"Come on, we're done here." Goto called out to the other two, "Keep tabs on Kimura and report to me if he does anything else suspicious."

Watching them leave the premises, Ranma silently let out a breath she was holding, "Well, that could've gone worse."

The lift doors squeaked a little as Nabiki slid out, "What the hell were you thinking, Ranma?!" Her face was flushed, her frown making her features seem even sharper than usual, "Do you want to get killed by the Yakuza, or what?"

Ranma waved her off, "Relax, we have an understanding now, they're not going to do anything obvious, but at the very least, they now know there's someone here who will defend people if need be." Her grin was tinted with excitement brimming from her eyes, "Perhaps someone will want to challenge that in the near future."

"Do you realise what you're risking?!" Nabiki began to pace around in front of her, "They'll kill you if you go too far!"

"They won't kill me." Ranma stopped her in her movements, gently taking her arms away from her wild gesticulating, "Nothing can stop me. At the very least, I can run away." Her smile was calm, "I wanted to send a message, but it was directed at the leader of their group. I want them to contact me directly."

Nabiki paused at the contact from Ranma, "They know where you work... You want to meet him, the boss?"

Ranma nodded, "How else can we get allies, or at least, get the backing I need for the dojo?" The sincere eyes didn't waver, "I'm not out to start a war, I just don't want to be considered as something worthless, I'm much more of use to them if I'm not against them."

"A neutral party then..." Nabiki considered this, holding her chin in thought, "You're not out to become a policeman, nor a member of their group, you simply don't want them to think they can safely ignore you or your activities."

"Exactly," Ranma clicked her fingers, "With this, they can stay out of my way, and vice versa."

"But... why?" Nabiki asked a pertinent question.

"Because I'm Ranma Saotome." The redhead put her hands on her hips, "And I'm not going to let myself be forgotten that easily. If the first people to hear my name are from the underworld, so be it."

Nabiki grinned back, "My, my, such high aspirations, that is a little intimidating, even for me." She kicked her foot on the dusty floor, "So, did you do what I think you did to Kimura?"

Ranma beamed savagely, "You'll see soon, just watch..." Doing a quick search of the nearby area, she frowned, "There's one of them left outside. I don't want to risk ourselves yet, so we're going to have to go out the same way we got in."

Walking back to the lift, Ranma grabbed Nabiki by the waist, "Stay close."

Bouncing off the edge of the lift shaft, she propelled herself between each floor until she reached the fourth floor, the open door waiting for them.

From then, it was a simple matter to begin roof hopping onwards to their home, "Nabiki, I think it's time I trained you on determining if you're being watched."

"Little do you know, Ranma, that I can already detect people with their ki." She smartly replied.

"Perhaps, but those guards back in China were people who are naturally strong, and not trying to hide themselves. Also, how can you detect a specific type of person who is watching you among a group?"

"I guess there's more to this ki than it lets on." She sighed in response, "What about my basic training though?"

"We'll incorporate it, somehow getting you to predict my next move by the changes in my ki. First it'll be obvious, but I'll slowly make the level lower and lower until the changes are slight."

"Fine, I suppose I can live with that." She changed the subject, "So, you said that Yuko is working at the café now?"

Ranma shook lightly, "Yeah, she's worse than I thought. You should have seen her face, Nabiki... She was like a different person..."

"Maybe it's Jusenkyo, she could have been soaked by water recently..." Nabiki pointed out seriously, "Spring of Drowned Sociopath?"

"Perhaps more along the Psychopath line..." Ranma joked back, "Problem is, this is how she always was, I doubt it is anything special like drugs or Jusenkyo."

"Which makes her all the more dangerous..." Nabiki continued, "I get it, we need to be careful around her."

"No, you need to be more careful." Ranma stared at her, "I can look after myself, but you, I don't think you have had enough training yet to defend yourself against someone like her."

Nabiki was about to protest, before she huffed in annoyance, "Fine, you're probably right."

"Don't worry, I'll teach you some knife-disarming techniques when we get home, then we can work on some other movements."

"Great, looking forward to avoiding a battle to the death!" Her joyous smile was mocking, much to Ranma's grumpiness.

"No need to be so sarcastic, it doesn't hurt to be prepared."

"I know, I'm just teasing you, Ranma." She gave her a peck on the cheek, causing a slight stumble as she jogged across one of the last roof tops.

"Gees, stop surprising me like that, I may have to leave you on one of these places and see how you like it!"

"You wouldn't dare." Nabiki narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

Ranma retaliated with a look of her own, "Oh really?"

Pausing at the last home, which was only a storey high, an old abandoned shop in a poorly lit area before the woods began to their cottage, Ranma released Nabiki and leapt away from her.

"Now, how would the great Nabiki Tendo deal with this?"

Ranma jumped down as you would a single step on a staircase. Landing without so much as a tap on the ground, the redhead stared up at Nabiki.

The Tendo looked around the barren roof, "Nothing here except for a trapdoor." Trying to pull it up, she noted it wouldn't budge, "Locked, as expected."

She checked the area beneath the shop, to see nothing except road and pavement, "No soft landings either, unless..."

Looking ahead about five metres was the edge of the road, but also the beginning of nature, the grass here still quite unkempt.

"You leave me no choice, Ranma..."

Going to the other end of the small roof space, Nabiki started her run up, by levering her foot on the upturned edge, before pulsing forwards and running. It was only ten metres, not a long distance, and one that seemed all too short when she found herself leaping high into the air, with nothing but air beneath her flailing legs.

"Wow..." She whistled, "Would be nice to travel like this..." She spoke to the person who rushed up next to her, "Don't you think so too, Ranma?"

"Nabiki, you idiot!"

Pivoting their bodies, Ranma managed to land whilst cradling Nabiki, the former's feet tracing in the ground from the sudden burst and forced landing.

"Don't do that!" She breathed, before lowering Nabiki and checking for any injuries, "You know I was joking, I wouldn't leave you up there..."

"I know, Ranma..." She touched her cheek, "I just wanted to know what it was like, to take a leap of faith and know that somehow I would land safely." She patted the errant hairs from her lover's face, "True, this time you were here to catch me, but one day I hope I have the strength to do what you do."

"Keep training and you will." Ranma grinned, and held her hand for a moment longer before they walked up the hill into the trees, "Come on, let's get home and eat, I'm starving!"

"Sure…" Nabiki climbed onto Ranma's back this time since they were out of sight from the city, and the redhead flew into the branches, aiming for their little home.

**Meanwhile  
Elsewhere in the city**

Kimura shook again, the fear of seeing the pistols pointed at him, the threat of death.

And then when that short girl burned his back.

"I'll show her, that arrogant whore." He turned and saw a dark alley, where a woman stood, her mini skirt riding too high to just be a normal clubber.

"I see, I need to let off some frustration now…" He went up to her, and she angled her head at him.

"What do you want?" She took another long drag of her cigarette, "My rates are cheap, give me your preferences and I'll give it to you, hard."

"Oh, I think I'm going for a freebie today." He grabbed her arm and twisted it, only for her quizzical face to contort in annoyance.

Her arm never moved, only his own hand glided around her skin like it couldn't grip anything. She edged it away from him and he was unable to hold her, "No need to play tough, my 'sponsor' will be here soon, you don't want to be on his bad side."

"To hell with that!" He punched her in the stomach, waiting for her breath to leave her.

However, she wasn't winded at all. In fact, the only change was her incredulous expression.

"Look buster, I don't know what your game is, but you're getting on my nerves. Now, piss off before I ask him to teach you a lesson."

Pushing him slightly, she walked away, failing to notice that he flew several metres away into the back wall, unable to stop his motion.

"Wh-What the hell…?"

Struggling to his feet, Kimura felt his hands shaking and the pain that coursed through his body from the fall, and the light touch the prostitute inflicted on him.

"It hurts…" He felt his wheezing from the strike and clenched his fist, "Ranma… You… You're going to pay for this, somehow…"

Stumbling to his feet, Kimura went home to plan his revenge.

But first, a good night's sleep was necessary, and some painkillers.

**Author's Notes**

Took some time for this instalment. Though, we're finally getting things heated up finally after 7 chapters.

Hope this was enjoyed by all!

J


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